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 2016

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 30 September 1916 Registrar C. Cave

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 July 1916

John William Thomson
Sarah Phoebe Teasdale

John William Thomson
Sarah Phoebe Teasdale
💍 1916/727

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Domestic

27
28

Greymouth
Cobden

3 days
26 years

Church of the Resurrection, Cobden

6145

15 July 1916

Rev. J. A. Mossman

No	36
Date of Notice	15 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Thomson	Sarah Phoebe Teasdale
	💍 1916/727
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Cobden
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Resurrection, Cobden
Folio	6145
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Mossman

19 July 1916

James Toohey
Margaret Poy Henderson

James Toohey
Margaret Pow Henderson
💍 1916/1391

James Foster
Mary Moonlight Henderson
💍 1916/3926

Bachelor
Spinster

Cycle dealer
Domestic

27
21

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 days
3 days

St Patrick's Church, Greymouth

6286

19 July 1916

Very Rev. Dean D. P. Carew

No	37
Date of Notice	19 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Toohey	Margaret Poy Henderson
BDM Match (98%)	James Toohey	Margaret Pow Henderson
	💍 1916/1391
BDM Match (60%)	James Foster	Mary Moonlight Henderson
	💍 1916/3926
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cycle dealer	Domestic
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Church, Greymouth
Folio	6286
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean D. P. Carew

21 July 1916

Thomas Frederick Noon
Elsie Olive Scott

Thomas Frederick Cron
Elsie Olive Scott
💍 1916/8512

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

21
19

Greymouth
Greymouth

4 days
4 days

St Patrick's Church, Greymouth

6287

Margaret Scott - mother

21 July 1916

Very Rev. Dean D. P. Carew

No	38
Date of Notice	21 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Frederick Noon	Elsie Olive Scott
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Frederick Cron	Elsie Olive Scott
	💍 1916/8512
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Church, Greymouth
Folio	6287
Consent	Margaret Scott - mother
Date of Certificate	21 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean D. P. Carew

25 July 1916

Alan Julian Petrie
Gladys Muriel Parkinson

Alan Julian Petrie
Gladys Muriel Parkinson
💍 1916/1132

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk in Holy Orders
Domestic Duties

28
27

Greymouth (usual Dunedin)
Greymouth

3 days
27 years

Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth

6147

25 July 1916

Ven. Archdeacon York

No	39
Date of Notice	25 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alan Julian Petrie	Gladys Muriel Parkinson
	💍 1916/1132
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk in Holy Orders	Domestic Duties
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Greymouth (usual Dunedin)	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth
Folio	6147
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon York

31 July 1916

Hyde Horatio Skeego Herring
Caroline Pearce Curnow

Hyde Horatio Greengo Herring
Caroline Piarce Currow
💍 1916/728

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

25
21

Blaketown
Greymouth

13 years
3 years

Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth

6146

31 July 1916

Ven. Archdeacon York

No	40
Date of Notice	31 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hyde Horatio Skeego Herring	Caroline Pearce Curnow
BDM Match (90%)	Hyde Horatio Greengo Herring	Caroline Piarce Currow
	💍 1916/728
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Blaketown	Greymouth
Length of Residence	13 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth
Folio	6146
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon York

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).