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 1956

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 1916 Registrar W. Emerson Deputy Registrar

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

28 April 1916

Thomas John Brown
Agnes Johnston Thirlwell

Thomas John Brown
Agnes Johnston Thirlwell
💍 1916/6633

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

35
25

Nelson
Nelson

7 weeks
1 week

Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson

16/4122

28 April 1916

Rev. J. H. Mackenzie Presbyterian

No	35
Date of Notice	28 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas John Brown	Agnes Johnston Thirlwell
	💍 1916/6633
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	35	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	7 weeks	1 week
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	16/4122
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Mackenzie Presbyterian

29 April 1916

Irvine Norris
Frances Norris

Irvine Norris
Frances Norriss
💍 1916/12865

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman
Domestic duties

25
29

Wakapuaka
Nelson

13 years
27 years

Methodist Church, Nelson

16/4125

29 April 1916

Rev. W. Baumber Methodist

No	36
Date of Notice	29 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Irvine Norris	Frances Norris
BDM Match (97%)	Irvine Norris	Frances Norriss
	💍 1916/12865
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman	Domestic duties
Age	25	29
Dwelling Place	Wakapuaka	Nelson
Length of Residence	13 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Nelson
Folio	16/4125
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Baumber Methodist

5 May 1916

George Martin Dunn
Myrtle Maud Harden

George Martin Dunn
Myrtle Maud Harden
💍 1916/563

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Domestic duties

32
23

Port Nelson
Nelson

4 years
5 years

Dwelling of George Mason Harden, Toi Toi Valley, Nelson

16/3707

5 May 1916

Rev. J. A. Rogers Church of England

No	37
Date of Notice	5 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Martin Dunn	Myrtle Maud Harden
	💍 1916/563
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Domestic duties
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Port Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of George Mason Harden, Toi Toi Valley, Nelson
Folio	16/3707
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Rogers Church of England

6 May 1916

George Frederick Hodgson
Janet Smith

George Frederick Hodgson
Janet Smith
💍 1916/6636

Bachelor
Spinster

Police constable
Domestic duties

33
23

Nelson
Nelson

4 days
4 days

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Nelson

16/4124

6 May 1916

Rev. J. Tymons Roman Catholic

No	38
Date of Notice	6 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Frederick Hodgson	Janet Smith
	💍 1916/6636
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police constable	Domestic duties
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Nelson
Folio	16/4124
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Tymons Roman Catholic

8 May 1916

William Henry Dixon
Mary Ann Shaw

William Henry Dixon
Mary Ann Shaw
💍 1916/6635

Widower
Spinster

Master Mariner
Domestic duties

63
42

Nelson
Nelson

3 weeks
3 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

16/4123

8 May 1916

J. Tyson Registrar of Marriages

No	39
Date of Notice	8 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Dixon	Mary Ann Shaw
	💍 1916/6635
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner	Domestic duties
Age	63	42
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	16/4123
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1916
Officiating Minister	J. Tyson Registrar of Marriages

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

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).