Intentions to Marry, 1916 Kaikoura to Rakaia

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840467, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1916 is bound in six volumes (a to f) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1916e contains pages 1803-2396, covering districts from Kaikoura to Rakaia

Page 2244

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1916

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

749

3 November 1916

Roderick Gordon Stammers
Evelyn Grace Goodman

Roderick Gordon Stammers
Evelyn Grace Goodman
💍 1916/929

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor-driver

23
18

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
10 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

6995

Frank Ernest Goodman Father

3 November 1916

Registrar

No	749
Date of Notice	3 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roderick Gordon Stammers	Evelyn Grace Goodman
	💍 1916/929
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor-driver
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	6995
Consent	Frank Ernest Goodman Father
Date of Certificate	3 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar

750

3 November 1916

Thomas Etienne Lasserre Marquet
Catherine Maria Ashby

Thomas Etienne Lasserre
Catherine Marihu Ashby
💍 1916/930

Bachelor
Spinster

Warder
Nurse

28
21

Sunnyside
Fendalton

5 years
Life

Registrar's Office Christchurch

6996

3 November 1916

Registrar

No	750
Date of Notice	3 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Etienne Lasserre Marquet	Catherine Maria Ashby
BDM Match (83%)	Thomas Etienne Lasserre	Catherine Marihu Ashby
	💍 1916/930
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warder	Nurse
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Sunnyside	Fendalton
Length of Residence	5 years	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	6996
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar

751

3 November 1916

James Watts
Eva Webb

James Watts
Eva Webb
💍 1916/931

Widower 1899
Spinster

Blacksmith

61
48

St. Albans
St. Albans

15 years
15 years

Dwelling of Mr J. Watts 952 Colombo St. St. Albans

6997

3 November 1916

Rev. A. Hore Anglican

No	751
Date of Notice	3 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Watts	Eva Webb
	💍 1916/931
Condition	Widower 1899	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	61	48
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	15 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr J. Watts 952 Colombo St. St. Albans
Folio	6997
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hore Anglican

752

3 November 1916

Francis Vernon McEvin
Agnes Sharpe Wilkinson

Francis Vernon McEwin
Agnes Sharpe Wilkinson
💍 1916/932

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Tailoress

27
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

14 years
4 years

St. Luke's Church Christchurch

6998

3 November 1916

Rev. F. N. Taylor Anglican

No	752
Date of Notice	3 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Vernon McEvin	Agnes Sharpe Wilkinson
BDM Match (98%)	Francis Vernon McEwin	Agnes Sharpe Wilkinson
	💍 1916/932
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Tailoress
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	14 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church Christchurch
Folio	6998
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. N. Taylor Anglican

753

3 November 1916

William Wallace Newman
Phyllis Nettleton

William Wallace Newman
Phyllis Nettleton
💍 1916/933

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Clerk

25
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 months
10 years

Baptist Church Oxford Terrace Christchurch

6999

3 November 1916

Rev. J. J. North. Baptist

No	753
Date of Notice	3 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Wallace Newman	Phyllis Nettleton
	💍 1916/933
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Clerk
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Oxford Terrace Christchurch
Folio	6999
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. North. Baptist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).