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 2683

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar Alex. Montgomery

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

140

8 December 1915

Edward Timothy Lane
Hilda Burness

Edward Timothy Lane
Hilda Burness
💍 1915/7120

Bachelor
Spinster

Linotype Operator
Domestic Servant

24
20

Gleniti
Kingsdown

24 years
20 years

Registrars Office Timaru

9633

William Burness ( Father )

8 December 1915

Alex. Montgomery Registrar

No	140
Date of Notice	8 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Timothy Lane	Hilda Burness
	💍 1915/7120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linotype Operator	Domestic Servant
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Gleniti	Kingsdown
Length of Residence	24 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Timaru
Folio	9633
Consent	William Burness ( Father )
Date of Certificate	8 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Alex. Montgomery Registrar

141

11 December 1915

James Dorgan
Mary Agnes Shine

James Dorgan
Mary Agnes Shine
💍 1915/7150

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable
Domestic duties

31
25

Timaru
Adair

8 months
25 years

Catholic Church Timaru

9663

11 December 1915

Rev. M. A. Murphy Catholic Priest

No	141
Date of Notice	11 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Dorgan	Mary Agnes Shine
	💍 1915/7150
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable	Domestic duties
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Adair
Length of Residence	8 months	25 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church Timaru
Folio	9663
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. A. Murphy Catholic Priest

142

20 December 1915

Donald Ross
Ethel Mulford

Donald Ross
Ethel Trilford
💍 1915/7152

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

24
21

Washdyke
Washdyke

9 years
13 years

Chalmers Church Timaru

9664

20 December 1915

Rev. G. R. Harries Presbyterian Minister

No	142
Date of Notice	20 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Ross	Ethel Mulford
BDM Match (89%)	Donald Ross	Ethel Trilford
	💍 1915/7152
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Washdyke	Washdyke
Length of Residence	9 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Chalmers Church Timaru
Folio	9664
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. R. Harries Presbyterian Minister

143

22 December 1915

Frederick Francis Wilson
Evangeline Maude South

Frederick Francis Ohlson
Evangaline Maude South
💍 1915/7164

Widower
Spinster

Bootmaker
Machinist

44
35

Christchurch
Timaru

14 years
4 days

Dwellinghouse of Mrs Harris Morgans Rd Timaru

9653

22 December 1915

Rev. R. J. Liddell Methodist Minister

No	143
Date of Notice	22 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Francis Wilson	Evangeline Maude South
BDM Match (94%)	Frederick Francis Ohlson	Evangaline Maude South
	💍 1915/7164
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Machinist
Age	44	35
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Timaru
Length of Residence	14 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Mrs Harris Morgans Rd Timaru
Folio	9653
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Liddell Methodist Minister

144

23 December 1915

Richard John Foster
Janet Ann Whytock

Richard John Foster
Janet Ann Whyte
💍 1915/7143

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic duties

25
23

Timaru
Timaru

25 years
21 years

Chalmers Church Timaru

9656

23 December 1915

Rev. D. Stinson Presbyterian Minister

No	144
Date of Notice	23 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard John Foster	Janet Ann Whytock
BDM Match (91%)	Richard John Foster	Janet Ann Whyte
	💍 1915/7143
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	25 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Chalmers Church Timaru
Folio	9656
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Stinson Presbyterian Minister

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).