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 2991

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar Alexander Adam Mair

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

3356

12 October 1915

Charles Leishman
Ethel Adams

Charles Leishman
Ethel Adams
💍 1915/7217

Bachelor
Spinster

Surfaceman N.Z.R.
Domestic Duties

28
22

Oamaru
Oamaru

9 days
3 years

Registrar's Office Oamaru

9755

12 October 1915

Registrar of Marriages

No	3356
Date of Notice	12 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Leishman	Ethel Adams
	💍 1915/7217
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman N.Z.R.	Domestic Duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	9 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Oamaru
Folio	9755
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

3357

18 October 1915

Peter Dunn
Cecilia Doig

Peter Dunn
Cecilia Doig
💍 1915/7508

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

52
46

Reidston Maheno
Papakaio

52 years
46 years

residence of Mr Duncan Papakaio

9984

18 October 1915

Rev. Ew. Hunt

No	3357
Date of Notice	18 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Dunn	Cecilia Doig
	💍 1915/7508
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	52	46
Dwelling Place	Reidston Maheno	Papakaio
Length of Residence	52 years	46 years
Marriage Place	residence of Mr Duncan Papakaio
Folio	9984
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Ew. Hunt

3358

19 October 1915

Edwin John Grant
Mary Simpson

Edwin John Grant
Mary Simpson
💍 1915/7275

Bachelor
divorced

Stonemason
Machinist

30 yrs
48 yrs

Oamaru
Oamaru

30 yrs
34 yrs

residence of Mrs Mary Simpson Wanbeck street Oamaru

9765

19 October 1915

Rev. S. F. Hunter

No	3358
Date of Notice	19 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin John Grant	Mary Simpson
	💍 1915/7275
Condition	Bachelor	divorced
Profession	Stonemason	Machinist
Age	30 yrs	48 yrs
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	30 yrs	34 yrs
Marriage Place	residence of Mrs Mary Simpson Wanbeck street Oamaru
Folio	9765
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. F. Hunter

3359

20 October 1915

Thomas Richmond Whitaker
Amelia Margaret Howland

Thomas Richmond Whitaker
Amelia Margaret Howland
💍 1915/7218

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic Duties

24
20

Oamaru
Oamaru

2 years
3 years

Registrar's Office Oamaru

9756

Alice Howland Mother

20 October 1915

Registrar of Marriages

No	3359
Date of Notice	20 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Richmond Whitaker	Amelia Margaret Howland
	💍 1915/7218
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Oamaru
Folio	9756
Consent	Alice Howland Mother
Date of Certificate	20 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

3360

23 October 1915

Walter Thomas Beswarick
Alice Sarah Wilson

Walter Thomas Beswarick
Alice Sarah Wilson
💍 1915/7215

Bachelor
Spinster

Woolclasser
Domestic Duties

31
23

Oamaru
Oamaru

9 months
23 years

Church of Christ Oamaru

9753

23 October 1915

Rev. Thomas John Bull

No	3360
Date of Notice	23 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Thomas Beswarick	Alice Sarah Wilson
	💍 1915/7215
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woolclasser	Domestic Duties
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	9 months	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ Oamaru
Folio	9753
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas John Bull

3361

26 October 1915

Alfred William Hill
Myra Myrita Pearce

Alfred William Hill
Myra Myrita Pearse
💍 1915/7276

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Manager
Domestic Duties

36
17

Balruddery
Balruddery

7 years
3 years

St Paul's Manse Oamaru

9766

Arthur James Pearce Father

26 October 1915

Rev. S. F. Fowler

No	3361
Date of Notice	26 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred William Hill	Myra Myrita Pearce
BDM Match (97%)	Alfred William Hill	Myra Myrita Pearse
	💍 1915/7276
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	36	17
Dwelling Place	Balruddery	Balruddery
Length of Residence	7 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Manse Oamaru
Folio	9766
Consent	Arthur James Pearce Father
Date of Certificate	26 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. F. Fowler

3362

29 October 1915

James Taylor
Catherine Brown

James Taylor
Catherine Brown
💍 1915/7266

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Duties

27
33

Oamaru
Oamaru

27 years
33 years

residence of Mrs Margaret Taylor Waiareka Oamaru

9762

29 October 1915

Rev. J. D. Russell

No	3362
Date of Notice	29 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Taylor	Catherine Brown
	💍 1915/7266
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	33
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	27 years	33 years
Marriage Place	residence of Mrs Margaret Taylor Waiareka Oamaru
Folio	9762
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Russell

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).