Intentions to Marry, 1915 Rangiora to Chatham Islands (includes Otago)

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840462, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1915 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.

1915f contains pages 2619-3266, covering districts from Rangiora to Chatham Islands (includes Otago)

Page 2621

District of Rangiora Quarter ending 30 June 1915 Registrar Joseph Sargeant

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

5 April 1915

Carl Oscar Christoffersen
Evelyn Trenberth

Carl Oscar Christoffersen
Evelyn Trenberth
💍 1915/2125

Bachelor
Spinster

Salvation Army Officer
Salvation Army Officer

34 years
28 years

Rangiora
Rangiora

3 days
3 days

Salvation Army Hall Rangiora

4028

5 April 1915

Ernest Newby Salvation Army

No	11
Date of Notice	5 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Carl Oscar Christoffersen	Evelyn Trenberth
	💍 1915/2125
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salvation Army Officer	Salvation Army Officer
Age	34 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Rangiora	Rangiora
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Hall Rangiora
Folio	4028
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Ernest Newby Salvation Army

7 April 1915

Arthur Francis Quinn
Winifred Lucy

Arthur Francis Quinn
Winifred Lucy
💍 1915/9490

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

34 years
29 years

Flaxton
Rangiora

3 years
29 years

Roman Catholic Church Rangiora

2096

7 April 1915

W. J. Hyland Roman Catholic

No	12
Date of Notice	7 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Francis Quinn	Winifred Lucy
	💍 1915/9490
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	34 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Flaxton	Rangiora
Length of Residence	3 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Rangiora
Folio	2096
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1915
Officiating Minister	W. J. Hyland Roman Catholic

21 April 1915

Cornelius Fitzgerald
Catherine Collington

Cornelius Fitzgerald
Catherine Collington
💍 1915/9491

Bachelor
Widow (7 April 1908)

Labourer
Housekeeper

38 years
35 years

Rangiora
Rangiora

38 years
9 months

Roman Catholic Church Rangiora

2097

21 April 1915

W. J. Hyland Roman Catholic

No	13
Date of Notice	21 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cornelius Fitzgerald	Catherine Collington
	💍 1915/9491
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (7 April 1908)
Profession	Labourer	Housekeeper
Age	38 years	35 years
Dwelling Place	Rangiora	Rangiora
Length of Residence	38 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Rangiora
Folio	2097
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1915
Officiating Minister	W. J. Hyland Roman Catholic

26 April 1915

Stephen Joseph Ryan
Annie Cecily Omeara

Stephen Joseph Ryan
Annie Cicily OMeara
💍 1915/9492

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

40 years
25 years

Rangiora
Rangiora

2 3/4 years
25 years

Roman Catholic Church Rangiora

2098

26 April 1915

W. J. Hyland Roman Catholic

No	14
Date of Notice	26 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Joseph Ryan	Annie Cecily Omeara
BDM Match (95%)	Stephen Joseph Ryan	Annie Cicily OMeara
	💍 1915/9492
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	40 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Rangiora	Rangiora
Length of Residence	2 3/4 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Rangiora
Folio	2098
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1915
Officiating Minister	W. J. Hyland Roman Catholic

8 May 1915

Edward Richard Woodford Watkins
Elsie Kathleen Hills

Edward Richard Woodford Watkins
Elsie Kathleen Hills
💍 1915/2123

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28 years
29 years

Rangiora
Rangiora

2 years
29 years

Church of England Rangiora

4026

8 May 1915

F. P. Fendall Church of England

No	15
Date of Notice	8 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Richard Woodford Watkins	Elsie Kathleen Hills
	💍 1915/2123
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Rangiora	Rangiora
Length of Residence	2 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Rangiora
Folio	4026
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1915
Officiating Minister	F. P. Fendall Church of England

11 May 1915

Arthur Edward Rosseter
Alice May Duffell

Arthur Edward Rossiter
Alice May Duffell
💍 1915/2124

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Domestic duties

26 years
21 years

Ashley
Rangiora

4 years
10 months

Salvation Army Hall Rangiora

4027

11 May 1915

Ernest Newby Salvation Army

No	16
Date of Notice	11 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edward Rosseter	Alice May Duffell
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Edward Rossiter	Alice May Duffell
	💍 1915/2124
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic duties
Age	26 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Ashley	Rangiora
Length of Residence	4 years	10 months
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Hall Rangiora
Folio	4027
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Ernest Newby Salvation Army

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).