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 2450

District of Waimate Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar W. O. Wilson

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

8 February 1916

William Walter Cousins
Elsie Maud Harrow

William Walter Cousins
Elsie Maud Harrow
💍 1916/7209

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Clerk

25
23

Waimate
Waimate

10 years
9 months

Residence of John Harrow, Waimate

4745

8 February 1916

Alexander Samuel Morrison (Rev)

No	6
Date of Notice	8 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Walter Cousins	Elsie Maud Harrow
	💍 1916/7209
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Clerk
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	10 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Residence of John Harrow, Waimate
Folio	4745
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Alexander Samuel Morrison (Rev)

21 February 1916

James Bohm
Effie Euphemia Eliza Sarah Cousins

James Bohm
Effie Euphemia Eliza Sarah Cousins
💍 1916/7207

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

26
23

Waimate
Waimate

9 months
23 years

Presbyterian Manse, Waimate

4743

21 February 1916

Alexander Samuel Morrison (Rev)

No	7
Date of Notice	21 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Bohm	Effie Euphemia Eliza Sarah Cousins
	💍 1916/7207
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	9 months	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Waimate
Folio	4743
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Alexander Samuel Morrison (Rev)

28 February 1916

Errol Blake
Elizabeth Alice Stott

Errol Blake
Elizabeth Alice Stott
💍 1916/7208

Bachelor
Widow

Compositor
Domestic duties

40
34

Waimate
Waimate

1 year
14 days

Presbyterian Manse, Waimate

4744

28 February 1916

Alexander Samuel Morrison (Rev)

No	8
Date of Notice	28 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Errol Blake	Elizabeth Alice Stott
	💍 1916/7208
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Compositor	Domestic duties
Age	40	34
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	1 year	14 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Waimate
Folio	4744
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Alexander Samuel Morrison (Rev)

4 March 1916

William Clearwater
Winnifred Irene Slack

William Clearwater
Winifred Irene Black
💍 1916/4127

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic duties

36
20

Morven
Morven

4 years
16 years

St Matthews Anglican Church, Morven

1307

Ellen Allnutt, mother

4 March 1916

Charles Collingwood Oldham (Rev)

No	9
Date of Notice	4 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Clearwater	Winnifred Irene Slack
BDM Match (95%)	William Clearwater	Winifred Irene Black
	💍 1916/4127
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic duties
Age	36	20
Dwelling Place	Morven	Morven
Length of Residence	4 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Anglican Church, Morven
Folio	1307
Consent	Ellen Allnutt, mother
Date of Certificate	4 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Charles Collingwood Oldham (Rev)

8 March 1916

Charles William Watt
Ellen Kiely

Charles William Watt
Ellen Kiely
💍 1916/4465

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Tailoress

37
29

Waimate
Waimate

7 years
29 years

Roman Catholic Church, Waimate

1428

8 March 1916

Paul Aubry (Rev)

No	10
Date of Notice	8 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Watt	Ellen Kiely
	💍 1916/4465
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Tailoress
Age	37	29
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	7 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Waimate
Folio	1428
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Paul Aubry (Rev)

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).