Intentions to Marry, 1917 Kaikoura to Rakaia

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840473, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1917 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.

1917e contains pages 1665-2196, covering districts from Kaikoura to Rakaia

Page 1816

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 September 1917 Registrar S. Tyson

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

21 July 1917

Harold Herbert Homan
Ella May Boddington

Harold Herbert Homan
Ella May Boddington
💍 1917/5142

Widower 21/4/13
Spinster

Linesman
Domestic duties

27
21

Nelson
Nelson

14 years
21 years

All Saints' Church, Nelson

17/4622

21 July 1917

Canon Lucas, Church of England

No	40
Date of Notice	21 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Herbert Homan	Ella May Boddington
	💍 1917/5142
Condition	Widower 21/4/13	Spinster
Profession	Linesman	Domestic duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	14 years	21 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Nelson
Folio	17/4622
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Canon Lucas, Church of England

24 July 1917

Roland William Henry Goddard
Elizabeth Osborne

Roland William Henry Goddard
Elizabeth Osborne
💍 1917/5144

Bachelor
Divorced (decree absolute 4/4/1917)

Farmer
Domestic duties

22
28

Tahuna
Tahuna

4 months
10 months

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

17/4623

24 July 1917

S. Tyson, Registrar

No	41
Date of Notice	24 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roland William Henry Goddard	Elizabeth Osborne
	💍 1917/5144
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (decree absolute 4/4/1917)
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	22	28
Dwelling Place	Tahuna	Tahuna
Length of Residence	4 months	10 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	17/4623
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1917
Officiating Minister	S. Tyson, Registrar

25 July 1917

John Stevenson
Ethel Grace Dobier

John Stevenson
Ethel Grace Dobier
💍 1917/5145

Bachelor
Spinster

Military Drill Instructor
Tailoress

46
24

Nelson
Nelson

1 year
4 days

Dwelling of Mr. W. Baumber, Hardy Street, Nelson

17/4624

25 July 1917

Rev. W. Baumber, Methodist

No	42
Date of Notice	25 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stevenson	Ethel Grace Dobier
	💍 1917/5145
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Military Drill Instructor	Tailoress
Age	46	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 year	4 days
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. W. Baumber, Hardy Street, Nelson
Folio	17/4624
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Baumber, Methodist

25 July 1917

Percy Godfrey Vivian Grooby
Alice Elizabeth Evelyn Mills

Percy Godfrey Vivian Grooby
Alice Elizabeth Evelyn Mills
💍 1917/5146

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Domestic duties

22
20

Nelson
Nelson

9 months
12 months

Registrar's Office, Nelson

17/4625

Richard George Mills, Father

25 July 1917

S. Tyson, Registrar

No	43
Date of Notice	25 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Godfrey Vivian Grooby	Alice Elizabeth Evelyn Mills
	💍 1917/5146
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Domestic duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	9 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Nelson
Folio	17/4625
Consent	Richard George Mills, Father
Date of Certificate	25 July 1917
Officiating Minister	S. Tyson, Registrar

28 July 1917

Guglielmo Monopoli
Elsie Ella Ford

Gugliomo Monopoli
Elsie Ella Ford
💍 1917/5147

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic duties

26
21

Nelson
Nelson

3 years
1 year

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Manuka Street, Nelson

17/4626

28 July 1917

Rev. Kevin J. McGrath, Roman Catholic

No	44
Date of Notice	28 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Guglielmo Monopoli	Elsie Ella Ford
BDM Match (94%)	Gugliomo Monopoli	Elsie Ella Ford
	💍 1917/5147
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Manuka Street, Nelson
Folio	17/4626
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Kevin J. McGrath, Roman Catholic

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).