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 2080

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1916 Registrar W. W. White

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

15 April 1916

Herbert Vivian Stabler
Nellie Frances Osborn

Herbert Vivian Stabler
Nellie Frances Osborn
💍 1916/6714

Bachelor
Spinster

Sapper N.Z.E.
Domestic duties

24
21

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
21 years

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

4181

15 April 1916

Rev A. H. Wright

No	19
Date of Notice	15 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Vivian Stabler	Nellie Frances Osborn
	💍 1916/6714
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sapper N.Z.E.	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	4181
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev A. H. Wright

20 April 1916

George Ernest Coldicott
Florence Mabel Craighead

George Ernest Coldicott
Florence Mabel Craighead
💍 1916/6713

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic duties

26
22

Ashburton
Allenton

3 days
20 years

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

4180

20 April 1916

Rev. Geo. Miller

No	20
Date of Notice	20 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ernest Coldicott	Florence Mabel Craighead
	💍 1916/6713
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Allenton
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	4180
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Miller

22 April 1916

George Holmes
Mabel Florence Martha Andrews

George Holmes
Mabel Florence Martha Andrews
💍 1916/6685

Bachelor
Spinster

School master
Domestic duties

30
32

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
32 years

Baring Square Church Ashburton

4173

22 April 1916

Rev. George Frost

No	21
Date of Notice	22 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Holmes	Mabel Florence Martha Andrews
	💍 1916/6685
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School master	Domestic duties
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	32 years
Marriage Place	Baring Square Church Ashburton
Folio	4173
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Frost

22 April 1916

William Eaglesham Hetrick
Lucy Emily Hayward

William Eaglesham Hetrick
Lucy Emily Hayward
💍 1916/6688

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Lineman
Domestic duties

33
23

Ashburton
Ashburton

4 years
4 years

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

4176

22 April 1916

Rev. Geo. Miller

No	22
Date of Notice	22 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Eaglesham Hetrick	Lucy Emily Hayward
	💍 1916/6688
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Lineman	Domestic duties
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	4176
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Miller

26 April 1916

Gilbert Bruce Murdoch
Elizabeth Mabel Brown

Gilbert Bruce Murdoch
Elizabeth Mabel Brown
💍 1916/13009

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
19

Mayfield
Mayfield

13 years
15 years

Presbyterian Church Mayfield

4174

John Brown father of Minor

26 April 1916

Rev. P. Wilson

No	23
Date of Notice	26 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Bruce Murdoch	Elizabeth Mabel Brown
	💍 1916/13009
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Mayfield	Mayfield
Length of Residence	13 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Mayfield
Folio	4174
Consent	John Brown father of Minor
Date of Certificate	26 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Wilson

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).