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 3141

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1915 Registrar J. G. Peter

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

14 April 1915

David Ballantyne
Isabella Oliver Rey

David Ballantyne
Isabella Olive Rae
💍 1915/2417

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Surfaceman
Domestic

29
25

Clifton, Invercargill
Invercargill

7 years
14 days

Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

4322

14 April 1915

Rev. R. W. Burridge

No	67
Date of Notice	14 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Ballantyne	Isabella Oliver Rey
BDM Match (92%)	David Ballantyne	Isabella Olive Rae
	💍 1915/2417
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Surfaceman	Domestic
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Clifton, Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 years	14 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	4322
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. W. Burridge

17 April 1915

Donald McKerchar
Janet McPherson

Donald McKerchar
Janet Macpherson
💍 1915/2484

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

48
39

Lochiel, Invercargill
Waianiwa, Invercargill

10 years
2 years

Residence of John Blue, Enwood, Invercargill

4421

17 April 1915

Rev. A. Chisholm

No	68
Date of Notice	17 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald McKerchar	Janet McPherson
BDM Match (94%)	Donald McKerchar	Janet Macpherson
	💍 1915/2484
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	48	39
Dwelling Place	Lochiel, Invercargill	Waianiwa, Invercargill
Length of Residence	10 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Blue, Enwood, Invercargill
Folio	4421
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Chisholm

22 April 1915

Robert Young
Elizabeth Barbara Barry

Robert Young
Elizabeth Barry
💍 1915/2546

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Surfaceman
Housemaid

32
28

Invercargill
Invercargill

12 years
5 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill

4253

22 April 1915

Very Rev. Dean Burke

No	69
Date of Notice	22 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Young	Elizabeth Barbara Barry
BDM Match (83%)	Robert Young	Elizabeth Barry
	💍 1915/2546
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Surfaceman	Housemaid
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	12 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill
Folio	4253
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Burke

26 April 1915

Adam Ross Middleton
Marion Gilbey

Adam Ross Middleton
Marion Gilbey
💍 1915/2372

Widower, wife reported dead over 14 years ago
Spinster

Settler
Nurse

65
65

Otatara, Invercargill
Otatara, Invercargill

21 years
21 years

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

4229

26 April 1915

Registrar

No	70
Date of Notice	26 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adam Ross Middleton	Marion Gilbey
	💍 1915/2372
Condition	Widower, wife reported dead over 14 years ago	Spinster
Profession	Settler	Nurse
Age	65	65
Dwelling Place	Otatara, Invercargill	Otatara, Invercargill
Length of Residence	21 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	4229
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

28 April 1915

James Cantrick
Emma Harding

Jimere Cantrick
Emma Harding
💍 1915/2532

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

31
20

Woodend, Invercargill
Woodend, Invercargill

8 days
7 years

English Church, Clifton, Invercargill

4263

Robert Harding, father

28 April 1915

Rev. E. Streete

No	71
Date of Notice	28 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Cantrick	Emma Harding
BDM Match (90%)	Jimere Cantrick	Emma Harding
	💍 1915/2532
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Woodend, Invercargill	Woodend, Invercargill
Length of Residence	8 days	7 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Clifton, Invercargill
Folio	4263
Consent	Robert Harding, father
Date of Certificate	28 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Streete

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).