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 1808

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar E. 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

23 January 1917

William Arthur Brown
Ellinor Pearl Thomas

William Arthur Brown
Ellinor Pearl Thomas
💍 1917/49

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household duties

25
16

Happy Valley
Wakapuaka

25 years
4 years

Residence of Mr. William Baumber, Hardy Street, Nelson

17/1238

Wilfred Ernest Thomas, Father

23 January 1917

Rev. Wm. Baumber, Wesleyan

No	6
Date of Notice	23 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur Brown	Ellinor Pearl Thomas
	💍 1917/49
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household duties
Age	25	16
Dwelling Place	Happy Valley	Wakapuaka
Length of Residence	25 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. William Baumber, Hardy Street, Nelson
Folio	17/1238
Consent	Wilfred Ernest Thomas, Father
Date of Certificate	23 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Baumber, Wesleyan

25 January 1917

Robert Alexander McMillan
Emma Doole

Robert Alexander McMillan
Emma Doole
💍 1917/2396

Bachelor
Spinster

Hospital attendant
Domestic duties

30
39

Nelson
Nelson

3 years
4 years

All Saints' Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson

17/1561

25 January 1917

Rev. John A. Rogers, Church of England

No	7
Date of Notice	25 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Alexander McMillan	Emma Doole
	💍 1917/2396
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hospital attendant	Domestic duties
Age	30	39
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson
Folio	17/1561
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. John A. Rogers, Church of England

29 January 1917

Edward Henry Newton
Mabel Thorley Starr

Edward Henry Newton
Mabel Thorley Starr
💍 1917/2397

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic duties

31
21

Nelson
Nelson

4 years
21 years

All Saints' Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson

17/1562

29 January 1917

Rev. John A. Rogers, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	29 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Henry Newton	Mabel Thorley Starr
	💍 1917/2397
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 years	21 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson
Folio	17/1562
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. John A. Rogers, Church of England

31 January 1917

John Clunies-Ross
Amelia Davidina Johnston Rowe

John Clunies-Ross
Amelia Davidina Johnston Rowe
💍 1917/50

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

24
27

Nelson
Nelson

4 days
27 years

Nelson Cathedral, Nelson

17/1239

31 January 1917

Archdeacon Kempthorne, Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	31 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Clunies-Ross	Amelia Davidina Johnston Rowe
	💍 1917/50
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 days	27 years
Marriage Place	Nelson Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	17/1239
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon Kempthorne, Church of England

7 February 1917

Hahi Ngamuka
Pare Hauraki Elkington

Hahi Ngamuka
Pare Hauraki Elkington
💍 1917/51

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

24
15

Nelson
Nelson

5 months
3 years

Residence of Mrs. Flowerday, Waimea Road, Nelson

17/1240

John Arthur Elkington, Father

7 February 1917

Elder J. N. Lambert, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

No	10
Date of Notice	7 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hahi Ngamuka	Pare Hauraki Elkington
	💍 1917/51
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	24	15
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	5 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Flowerday, Waimea Road, Nelson
Folio	17/1240
Consent	John Arthur Elkington, Father
Date of Certificate	7 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Elder J. N. Lambert, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

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).