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 2012

District of Grey Quarter ending 30 June 1916 Registrar T. W. Coad

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

16 May 1916

John Henry Whitnall
Eileen Ruby Taylor

John Henry Whitnall
Eileen Ruby Taylor
💍 1916/13015

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Duties

25
23

Cobden
Runanga

One year
Six years

St Patrick's Church, Greymouth

4157

16 May 1916

Very Rev. Dean Dr. Carew (Roman Catholic)

No	22
Date of Notice	16 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Whitnall	Eileen Ruby Taylor
	💍 1916/13015
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Cobden	Runanga
Length of Residence	One year	Six years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Church, Greymouth
Folio	4157
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Dr. Carew (Roman Catholic)

20 May 1916

John Mulqueen
Sarah McMurdo

John Mulqueen
Sarah McMurdo
💍 1916/1475

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Domestic

25
23

Greymouth
Greymouth

1 1/2 years
3 years

St Patricks Church, Greymouth

6367

20 May 1916

Rev. Fr. C. Lacroix (Roman Catholic)

No	23
Date of Notice	20 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Mulqueen	Sarah McMurdo
	💍 1916/1475
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Domestic
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Patricks Church, Greymouth
Folio	6367
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Fr. C. Lacroix (Roman Catholic)

20 May 1916

William Edward Pring
Isabella Sarah Mosley

William Edward Pring
Isabella Sarah Mosley
💍 1916/6689

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Clerk

26
21

Greymouth
Greymouth

22 years
18 years

Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth

4154

20 May 1916

Rev. E. A. Crossman (Church of England)

No	24
Date of Notice	20 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Pring	Isabella Sarah Mosley
	💍 1916/6689
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Clerk
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	22 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth
Folio	4154
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. A. Crossman (Church of England)

22 May 1916

George Nohra
Minnie Arisey

George Nohra
Minnie Anisy
💍 1916/6691

Bachelor
Spinster

Store-keeper
Domestic

25
22

Greymouth and Big River
Greymouth

3 days and 3 years
9 years

St Patricks Church, Greymouth

4156

22 May 1916

Very Rev. Dean Dr. Carew (Roman Catholic)

No	25
Date of Notice	22 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Nohra	Minnie Arisey
BDM Match (92%)	George Nohra	Minnie Anisy
	💍 1916/6691
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Store-keeper	Domestic
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Greymouth and Big River	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 days and 3 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St Patricks Church, Greymouth
Folio	4156
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Dr. Carew (Roman Catholic)

10 June 1916

Alexander Duncan Trott
Annie Maude Etheleen Carter

Alexander Duncan Trott
Annie Maud Etheleen Carter
💍 1916/6660

Bachelor
Married; but continually absent from husband for seven years

Miner
Domestic

28
35

Greymouth
Greymouth

three weeks
three weeks

Registrar's Office, Courthouse, Greymouth

4143

10 June 1916

H. J. Fossey, Deputy Registrar of marriages

No	26
Date of Notice	10 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Duncan Trott	Annie Maude Etheleen Carter
BDM Match (98%)	Alexander Duncan Trott	Annie Maud Etheleen Carter
	💍 1916/6660
Condition	Bachelor	Married; but continually absent from husband for seven years
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	28	35
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	three weeks	three weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Courthouse, Greymouth
Folio	4143
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1916
Officiating Minister	H. J. Fossey, Deputy Registrar of marriages

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).