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 2887

District of Gabriels Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar James Milne Adam

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

315

14 January 1915

Thomas Stanley Terry
Louisa Mary Young

Thomas Stanley Terry
Louisa May Young
💍 1915/9166

Widower
Widow

Labourer
domestic duties

71
42

Evans Flat
Evans Flat

6 years
3 months

Registry office Courthouse Lawrence

1421

14 January 1915

James Milne Adam (Registrar)

No	315
Date of Notice	14 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Stanley Terry	Louisa Mary Young
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Stanley Terry	Louisa May Young
	💍 1915/9166
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	71	42
Dwelling Place	Evans Flat	Evans Flat
Length of Residence	6 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Registry office Courthouse Lawrence
Folio	1421
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1915
Officiating Minister	James Milne Adam (Registrar)

316

8 February 1915

David William Stalker
Edith Maud Matthews

David William Stalker
Edith Maud Matthews
💍 1915/9167

Bachelor
Spinster

warehouse-manager
domestic duties

31
25

Invercargill
Lawrence

1 month

Holy Trinity Church Lawrence

1422

8 February 1915

Isaac Richards (Anglican)

No	316
Date of Notice	8 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David William Stalker	Edith Maud Matthews
	💍 1915/9167
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	warehouse-manager	domestic duties
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Lawrence
Length of Residence		1 month
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Lawrence
Folio	1422
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Isaac Richards (Anglican)

317

25 February 1915

Frank Leslie Anderson
Phyllis Muriel Walker

Frank Leslie Anderson
Phyllis Muriel Walker
💍 1915/7996

Bachelor
Spinster

Pharmaceutical Chemist
domestic duties

26
21

Lawrence
Lawrence

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church Lawrence

1845

25 February 1915

Peter Calder Durward (Presbyterian)

No	317
Date of Notice	25 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Leslie Anderson	Phyllis Muriel Walker
	💍 1915/7996
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pharmaceutical Chemist	domestic duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Lawrence	Lawrence
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Lawrence
Folio	1845
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Peter Calder Durward (Presbyterian)

318

9 March 1915

Albert William McGunn
Ella Ann McMillan

Albert William McCunn
Ella Ann McMillan
💍 1915/7995

Bachelor
Spinster

butcher
domestic duties

23
24

Lawrence usual Dunedin
Lawrence

3 days
24 years

at the house of Robert McMillan, Beaumont Road, Lawrence

1844

9 March 1915

Peter Calder Durward (Presbyterian)

No	318
Date of Notice	9 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert William McGunn	Ella Ann McMillan
BDM Match (98%)	Albert William McCunn	Ella Ann McMillan
	💍 1915/7995
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	butcher	domestic duties
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Lawrence usual Dunedin	Lawrence
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	at the house of Robert McMillan, Beaumont Road, Lawrence
Folio	1844
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Peter Calder Durward (Presbyterian)

319

22 March 1915

Godfrey Foster
Ada Wilson

Godfrey Foster
Ada Wilson
💍 1915/9169

Bachelor
Spinster

carrier
domestic duties

21
25

Beaumont
Beaumont

1 year
1 year

At the Schoolhouse Beaumont

1423

22 March 1915

Isaac Richards Anglican

No	319
Date of Notice	22 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Godfrey Foster	Ada Wilson
	💍 1915/9169
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	carrier	domestic duties
Age	21	25
Dwelling Place	Beaumont	Beaumont
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	At the Schoolhouse Beaumont
Folio	1423
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Isaac Richards Anglican

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).