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 1954

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 1916 Registrar P. D. Emerson

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

13 April 1916

James Ebenezer Hockey
Elsie Sarah Brewerton

James Ebenezer Hockey
Elsie Sarah Brewerton
💍 1916/6665

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic duties

25
26

Nelson
Matai Valley

25 years
8 years

Residence of Mrs. W. Hockey, Brook Street, Nelson.

16/4130

13 April 1916

Rev. W. E. Lambert, Baptist.

No	25
Date of Notice	13 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Ebenezer Hockey	Elsie Sarah Brewerton
	💍 1916/6665
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Matai Valley
Length of Residence	25 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. W. Hockey, Brook Street, Nelson.
Folio	16/4130
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Lambert, Baptist.

17 April 1916

Herbert Neal
Olive Mabel Barnes

Herbert Neal
Olive Mabel Barnes
💍 1916/6668

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

24
18

Nelson
Wakapuaka

3 days
18 years

Dwelling of Daniel Barnes, Wakapuaka

16/4133

Daniel Barnes, Father

17 April 1916

Rev. B. D. Ashcroft, Church of England.

No	26
Date of Notice	17 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Neal	Olive Mabel Barnes
	💍 1916/6668
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Wakapuaka
Length of Residence	3 days	18 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Daniel Barnes, Wakapuaka
Folio	16/4133
Consent	Daniel Barnes, Father
Date of Certificate	17 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. D. Ashcroft, Church of England.

19 April 1916

Francis Peter Kellor
Florance Katheleen Stuart

Francis Peter Kellor
Florence Kathleen Stuart
💍 1916/565

Widower (21 May, 1914)
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Domestic duties

37
22

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
3 days

Church of England, Port Nelson.

16/3709

19 April 1916

Rev. John A. Rogers, Church of England.

No	27
Date of Notice	19 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Peter Kellor	Florance Katheleen Stuart
BDM Match (96%)	Francis Peter Kellor	Florence Kathleen Stuart
	💍 1916/565
Condition	Widower (21 May, 1914)	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	37	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Port Nelson.
Folio	16/3709
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. John A. Rogers, Church of England.

19 April 1916

Herbert Anstice
Mabel Frances Martin Edmonds

Herbert Anstice
Mabel Frances Martin Edmonds
💍 1916/74

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
—

28
27

Nelson
Nelson

28 years
27 years

Baptist Church, Bridge Street, Nelson.

16/4132

19 April 1916

Rev. W. E. Lambert, Baptist.

No	28
Date of Notice	19 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Anstice	Mabel Frances Martin Edmonds
	💍 1916/74
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	—
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	28 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Bridge Street, Nelson.
Folio	16/4132
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Lambert, Baptist.

20 April 1916

Thomas Stratford Smart
Margaret Wareing Wear

Thomas Stratford Smart
Margaret Wareing Dean
💍 1916/6666

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic duties

50
45

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
2 years

Dwelling of Samuel Mayson, Nile Street, Nelson

16/4131

20 April 1916

Rev. W. E. Lambert, Baptist.

No	29
Date of Notice	20 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Stratford Smart	Margaret Wareing Wear
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Stratford Smart	Margaret Wareing Dean
	💍 1916/6666
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic duties
Age	50	45
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Samuel Mayson, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	16/4131
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Lambert, 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).