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 1838

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 September 1916 Registrar J. C. Thomson

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

55/16

24 July 1916

Harry Herbert Gifford
Flossie May Cheesman

Harry Herbert Gifford
Flossie May Cheesman
💍 1916/1320

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

31
25

Rapaura
Grovetown

31 years
25 years

Presbyterian Church, Blenheim

16/6211

24 July 1916

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	55/16
Date of Notice	24 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Herbert Gifford	Flossie May Cheesman
	💍 1916/1320
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Rapaura	Grovetown
Length of Residence	31 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Blenheim
Folio	16/6211
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

56/16

24 July 1916

Ernest Edward Middlemiss
Katherine Margaret Fulton

Ernest Edward Middlemiss
Catherine Margaret Fulton
💍 1916/8438

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

43
31

Riverlands
Blenheim

30 years
31 years

Presbyterian Church, Blenheim

16/6212

24 July 1916

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	56/16
Date of Notice	24 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Edward Middlemiss	Katherine Margaret Fulton
BDM Match (98%)	Ernest Edward Middlemiss	Catherine Margaret Fulton
	💍 1916/8438
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	43	31
Dwelling Place	Riverlands	Blenheim
Length of Residence	30 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Blenheim
Folio	16/6212
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

57/16

25 July 1916

Cyril Robinson
Evelyn Beatrice Tarrant

Cyril Robinson
Evelyn Beatrice Tarrant
💍 1916/1319

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

26
27

Tuamarina
Tuamarina

3 days
27 years

Methodist Church, Tuamarina

16/6210

25 July 1916

Rev. T. R. B. Woolloxall, Methodist

No	57/16
Date of Notice	25 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Robinson	Evelyn Beatrice Tarrant
	💍 1916/1319
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Tuamarina	Tuamarina
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Tuamarina
Folio	16/6210
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. R. B. Woolloxall, Methodist

58/16

3 August 1916

Williams Stanley Oakley
Frances Barkley Irwin

William Stanley Oakley
Frances Barkley Irwin
💍 1916/1318

Bachelor
Spinster

Photographer
Shop assistant

30
19

Blenheim
Blenheim

21 months
11 months

Wesley Church, Blenheim

16/6209

No person in New Zealand authorized to give consent

19 August 1916

Rev. B. F. Rothwell, Methodist

No	58/16
Date of Notice	3 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Williams Stanley Oakley	Frances Barkley Irwin
BDM Match (98%)	William Stanley Oakley	Frances Barkley Irwin
	💍 1916/1318
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Photographer	Shop assistant
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	21 months	11 months
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Blenheim
Folio	16/6209
Consent	No person in New Zealand authorized to give consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. F. Rothwell, Methodist

59/16

19 August 1916

John Boyle
Edith Ellen Oben

John Boyle
Edith Ellen Oben
💍 1916/1317

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Tailoress

32
31

Blenheim
Blenheim

32 years
27 years

Presbyterian Manse, Springland, Blenheim

16/6208

19 August 1916

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	59/16
Date of Notice	19 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Boyle	Edith Ellen Oben
	💍 1916/1317
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Tailoress
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	32 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Springland, Blenheim
Folio	16/6208
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

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).