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 3133

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar J. G. Petrie

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

24 February 1915

John Rogerson
Agnes Ellen Mitchell

John Rogerson
Agnes Ellen Mitchell
💍 1915/13279

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep farmer
Domestic

28
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 years
11 years

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

1518

24 February 1915

Registrar

No	31
Date of Notice	24 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Rogerson	Agnes Ellen Mitchell
	💍 1915/13279
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep farmer	Domestic
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	1518
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

25 February 1915

John Reidy
Mary Mackin

John Reidy
Mary MacKin
💍 1915/13284

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Saleswoman

40
20

Invercargill
Invercargill

16 years
11 months

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne St., Invercargill

1522

Maude Mary English, Mother

25 February 1915

Rev. H. N. Woods

No	32
Date of Notice	25 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Reidy	Mary Mackin
BDM Match (95%)	John Reidy	Mary MacKin
	💍 1915/13284
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Saleswoman
Age	40	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	16 years	11 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne St., Invercargill
Folio	1522
Consent	Maude Mary English, Mother
Date of Certificate	25 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Woods

25 February 1915

Arthur Saunders
Rosa Palmer

Arthur Saunders
Roza Palmer
💍 1915/9211

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

21
26

Fort Road, Invercargill
Invercargill

1 year
26 years

Residence of Mrs John Collie, George St, Invercargill

1492

25 February 1915

Rev John Collie

No	33
Date of Notice	25 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Saunders	Rosa Palmer
BDM Match (95%)	Arthur Saunders	Roza Palmer
	💍 1915/9211
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	21	26
Dwelling Place	Fort Road, Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 year	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs John Collie, George St, Invercargill
Folio	1492
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev John Collie

1 March 1915

William Henry Cartwright
Florence Lily Reed

William Henry Cartwright
Florence Lily Bull
💍 1915/9214

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic

20
19

Invercargill
Invercargill

5 years
15 years

Residence of George Cartwright, 229 Ettwick St, Invercargill

1495

George Cartwright, Father; Florence Reed, Mother

1 March 1915

Rev F. B. Lawrence

No	34
Date of Notice	1 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Cartwright	Florence Lily Reed
BDM Match (89%)	William Henry Cartwright	Florence Lily Bull
	💍 1915/9214
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Residence of George Cartwright, 229 Ettwick St, Invercargill
Folio	1495
Consent	George Cartwright, Father; Florence Reed, Mother
Date of Certificate	1 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev F. B. Lawrence

2 March 1915

William Robert Weir
Violet Double

William Robert Wain
Violet Double
💍 1915/9213

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

21
20

Invercargill
Invercargill

5 years
20 years

Residence of Mrs Mary Young, 254 Tweed St, Invercargill

1494

Annie Donaldson, Mother

2 March 1915

Rev E. Garden

No	35
Date of Notice	2 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robert Weir	Violet Double
BDM Match (95%)	William Robert Wain	Violet Double
	💍 1915/9213
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Mary Young, 254 Tweed St, Invercargill
Folio	1494
Consent	Annie Donaldson, Mother
Date of Certificate	2 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev E. Garden

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).