Intentions to Marry, 1916 Rangiora to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840468, 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.

1916f contains pages 2397-3014, covering districts from Rangiora to Chatham Islands

Page 2461

District of Waipara Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar L C Jolly

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

16/1

12 January 1916

Charles Thomas Wilson Little
Hephzibah Beulah Kennedy

Charles Thomas Wilson Little
Hephyibah Beulah Kennedy
💍 1916/10715

Widower
Spinster

Medical Practitioner
Nurse

49 years
33 years

Waikari
Hawarden

6 years
18 years

Church of the Good Shepherd Phillipstown Christchurch

1116

12 January 1916

Archdeacon Ensor Church of England

No	16/1
Date of Notice	12 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Thomas Wilson Little	Hephzibah Beulah Kennedy
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Thomas Wilson Little	Hephyibah Beulah Kennedy
	💍 1916/10715
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner	Nurse
Age	49 years	33 years
Dwelling Place	Waikari	Hawarden
Length of Residence	6 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Good Shepherd Phillipstown Christchurch
Folio	1116
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon Ensor Church of England

16/2

8 February 1916

James Alexander Arnott
Ellen Elizabeth Prestney

James Alexander Arnott
Ellen Elizabeth Prestney
💍 1916/4108

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

38 years
35 years

Fernside
Rangiora

38 years
10 years

Church of England Scargill

1311

8 February 1916

Rev. G. W. H Harding Church of England

No	16/2
Date of Notice	8 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alexander Arnott	Ellen Elizabeth Prestney
	💍 1916/4108
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	38 years	35 years
Dwelling Place	Fernside	Rangiora
Length of Residence	38 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Scargill
Folio	1311
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. H Harding Church of England

16/3

9 February 1916

Edward William Ivory
Helen Harris

Edward William Ivory
Helen Harris
💍 1916/6809

Bachelor
Spinster

Nurseryman
Domestic Duties

25 years
23 years

Rangiora
Omihi

25 years
23 years

Residence of G. Harris Omihi

4278

9 February 1916

Rev. Alfred Peters Methodist

No	16/3
Date of Notice	9 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward William Ivory	Helen Harris
	💍 1916/6809
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Nurseryman	Domestic Duties
Age	25 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Rangiora	Omihi
Length of Residence	25 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of G. Harris Omihi
Folio	4278
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Peters Methodist

16/4

21 February 1916

Arthur George Black
Sarah Agnes Forrester

Arthur George Black
Sarah Agnes Forrester
💍 1916/4109

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24 years
23 years

Waikari
Hurunui

24 years
23 years

Presbyterian Church Waikari

1312

21 February 1916

Rev. A D Kirkland Presbyterian

No	16/4
Date of Notice	21 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur George Black	Sarah Agnes Forrester
	💍 1916/4109
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Waikari	Hurunui
Length of Residence	24 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Waikari
Folio	1312
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A D Kirkland Presbyterian

16/5

8 March 1916

William Allan
Margaret Lavinia Mackenzie

William Allan
Margaret Lavinia MacKenzie
💍 1916/8974

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

23 years
21 years

Waikari
Waikari

17 years
18 months

St Pauls Church Christchurch

1528

8 March 1916

Rev. Patterson Presbyterian

No	16/5
Date of Notice	8 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Allan	Margaret Lavinia Mackenzie
BDM Match (98%)	William Allan	Margaret Lavinia MacKenzie
	💍 1916/8974
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	23 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Waikari	Waikari
Length of Residence	17 years	18 months
Marriage Place	St Pauls Church Christchurch
Folio	1528
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patterson 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).