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 2641

District of Temuka Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar Alfred Roberts

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

1 July 1915

Herbert Scott Boyle
Henrietta Christina Alves

Herbert Scott Boyle
Henrietta Christina Alves
💍 1915/3959

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic duties

24
24

Temuka
Temuka

2 years
5 months

Presbyterian Manse Temuka

6154

No one authorised

1 July 1915

Rev. C. Macdonald

No	26
Date of Notice	1 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Scott Boyle	Henrietta Christina Alves
	💍 1915/3959
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	2 years	5 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Temuka
Folio	6154
Consent	No one authorised
Date of Certificate	1 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Macdonald

2 July 1915

Digory Warne Pearse
Phyllis Mary Curtis

Digory Warne Pearse
Phyllis Mary Curtis
💍 1915/3952

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

33
32

Temuka
Temuka

17 years
32 years

Church of England Temuka

6148

2 July 1915

Rev. A. H. Norris

No	27
Date of Notice	2 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Digory Warne Pearse	Phyllis Mary Curtis
	💍 1915/3952
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	33	32
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	17 years	32 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Temuka
Folio	6148
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Norris

12 July 1915

Noah Phillips
Olive Leta Coombs

Noah Phillips
Olive Lela Coombs
💍 1915/3958

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker's Assistant
Shop Assistant

24
18

Temuka
Temuka

24 years
11 months

Presbyterian Church Temuka

6153

William Coombs Father

12 July 1915

Rev. C. Macdonald

No	28
Date of Notice	12 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Noah Phillips	Olive Leta Coombs
BDM Match (97%)	Noah Phillips	Olive Lela Coombs
	💍 1915/3958
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker's Assistant	Shop Assistant
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	24 years	11 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Temuka
Folio	6153
Consent	William Coombs Father
Date of Certificate	12 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Macdonald

31 July 1915

Frederick Herman Bust
Florence Parke

Frederick Herman Burt
Florence Parker
💍 1915/3957

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
Domestic duties

32
21

Cave
Clandeboye

15 years
21 years

Presbyterian Church Temuka

6152

31 July 1915

Rev. C. Macdonald

No	29
Date of Notice	31 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Herman Bust	Florence Parke
BDM Match (94%)	Frederick Herman Burt	Florence Parker
	💍 1915/3957
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	Domestic duties
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Cave	Clandeboye
Length of Residence	15 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Temuka
Folio	6152
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Macdonald

10 August 1915

James Henry Looker
Lucy Kathleen Minnis

James Henry Looker
Lucy Kathleen Minnis
💍 1915/3955

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Domestic duties

22
21

Temuka
Temuka

8 years
4 days

Presbyterian Church Temuka

6150

10 August 1915

Rev. C. Macdonald

No	30
Date of Notice	10 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Looker	Lucy Kathleen Minnis
	💍 1915/3955
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Domestic duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	8 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Temuka
Folio	6150
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Macdonald

11 August 1915

John William O'Neill
Dora Harriett Richardson

John William O'Neill
Dora Harriett Richardson
💍 1915/3956

Widower
Spinster

Surfaceman
Domestic duties

35
22

Temuka
Temuka

3 days
14 days

Presbyterian Manse Temuka

6151

11 August 1915

Rev. C. Macdonald

No	31
Date of Notice	11 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William O'Neill	Dora Harriett Richardson
	💍 1915/3956
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman	Domestic duties
Age	35	22
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Temuka
Folio	6151
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Macdonald

17 August 1915

John Vane Middleton
Jane Cook

John Wane Middleton
Jane Cook
💍 1915/3951

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
Shop Assistant

29
28

Temuka
Temuka

3 days
4 weeks

Church of England Temuka

6147

17 August 1915

Rev. A. H. Norris

No	32
Date of Notice	17 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Vane Middleton	Jane Cook
BDM Match (97%)	John Wane Middleton	Jane Cook
	💍 1915/3951
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	Shop Assistant
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	3 days	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England Temuka
Folio	6147
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Norris

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).