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 1830

District of Wairau Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar E. O. Townson

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

16/16

1 March 1916

Oswald Mervyn Strickland
Isabella May McIsaac

Oswald Mervyn Strickland
Isabella May McIsaac
💍 1916/8920

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

31
26

Blenheim
Blenheim

31 years
26 years

Presbyterian Manse, Springlands

16/1098

1 March 1916

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	16/16
Date of Notice	1 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oswald Mervyn Strickland	Isabella May McIsaac
	💍 1916/8920
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	31 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Springlands
Folio	16/1098
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

17/16

6 March 1916

John Fitzgerald
Kathleen Margaret O'Neill

John Fitzgerald
Kathleen Margaret ONeill
💍 1916/8913

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Nurse

25
25

Blenheim
Blenheim

25 years
3 years

St. Mary's Catholic Church, Blenheim

16/1092

6 March 1916

Rev. J. S. Herbert, Roman Catholic

No	17/16
Date of Notice	6 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Fitzgerald	Kathleen Margaret O'Neill
BDM Match (98%)	John Fitzgerald	Kathleen Margaret ONeill
	💍 1916/8913
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Nurse
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	25 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	16/1092
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Herbert, Roman Catholic

18/16

18 March 1916

Alexander William Booth Williams
Ida Rebecca Saul

Alexander William Booth Williams
Ida Rebecca Saul
💍 1916/8918

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Tailoress

32
31

Blenheim
Springlands, Blenheim

4 years
25 years

Methodist Church, Blenheim

16/1096

18 March 1916

Rev. B. F. Rothwell, Methodist

No	18/16
Date of Notice	18 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander William Booth Williams	Ida Rebecca Saul
	💍 1916/8918
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Tailoress
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Springlands, Blenheim
Length of Residence	4 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Blenheim
Folio	16/1096
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. F. Rothwell, Methodist

19/16

21 March 1916

Reuben Hodson
Ellen Mary Bulliff
formerly Boyd m.n. Davey

Reuben Hodson
Ellen May Bulliff
💍 1916/8917

Widower
Divorcee

Machinist
Domestic

45
35

Blenheim
Blenheim

40 years
6 months

Methodist Parsonage, High St., Blenheim

16/1095

21 March 1916

Rev. B. F. Rothwell, Methodist

No	19/16
Date of Notice	21 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reuben Hodson	Ellen Mary Bulliff formerly Boyd m.n. Davey
BDM Match (97%)	Reuben Hodson	Ellen May Bulliff
	💍 1916/8917
Condition	Widower	Divorcee
Profession	Machinist	Domestic
Age	45	35
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	40 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, High St., Blenheim
Folio	16/1095
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. F. Rothwell, Methodist

20/16

31 March 1916

Henry Francis Smithell
Rachel Jane Wilson
formerly Rose

Henry Francis Smithell
Rachel Jane Wilson
💍 1916/8915

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Dressmaker

34
35

Blenheim
Blenheim

6 years
3 years

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

16/1094

31 March 1916

Mr. E. O. Trownson, Registrar

No	20/16
Date of Notice	31 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Francis Smithell	Rachel Jane Wilson formerly Rose
	💍 1916/8915
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	34	35
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	16/1094
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Mr. E. O. Trownson, Registrar

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).