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 3139

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

Andrew McKennon
Helen Duff

Andrew McKerrow
Helen Duff
💍 1915/2402

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Domestic

28
23

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 years
7 years

Residence of Mrs Ready, Dee Street, Invercargill

4284

14 April 1915

Rev. W. Ready

No	57
Date of Notice	14 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew McKennon	Helen Duff
BDM Match (90%)	Andrew McKerrow	Helen Duff
	💍 1915/2402
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Ready, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	4284
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Ready

14 April 1915

Percy John Hall
Edith Mary Smith

Percy John Hall
Edith Mary Smith
💍 1915/2381

Bachelor
Spinster

Signwriter
Assistant to Shop Assistant

22
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 years
9 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill

4287

14 April 1915

Very Rev. W. Burke

No	58
Date of Notice	14 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy John Hall	Edith Mary Smith
	💍 1915/2381
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Signwriter	Assistant to Shop Assistant
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill
Folio	4287
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. W. Burke

6 April 1915

James Finlay McLeod
Amy Sarah Wyeth

James Finlay McLeay
Amy Smale Wyeth
💍 1915/2365

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Domestic

26
23

Invercargill
Woodlands

2 days
23 years

Presbyterian Church, Woodlands, Invercargill

4245

6 April 1915

Rev. E. Bissett

No	59
Date of Notice	6 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Finlay McLeod	Amy Sarah Wyeth
BDM Match (81%)	James Finlay McLeay	Amy Smale Wyeth
	💍 1915/2365
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Domestic
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Woodlands
Length of Residence	2 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Woodlands, Invercargill
Folio	4245
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Bissett

6 April 1915

Charles Bull
Lucy Laidlaw

Charles Cull
Lucy Laidlaw
💍 1915/2400

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Dressmaker

31
25

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 days
4 years

Residence of Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Tay Street, Invercargill

4282

6 April 1915

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	60
Date of Notice	6 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Bull	Lucy Laidlaw
BDM Match (96%)	Charles Cull	Lucy Laidlaw
	💍 1915/2400
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Dressmaker
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	4282
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

7 April 1915

John Ellen
Frances Isabella Roberts

John Green
Frances Isabella Roberts
💍 1915/2401

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

30
26

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
7 days

English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

4283

7 April 1915

Archdeacon Packe

No	61
Date of Notice	7 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ellen	Frances Isabella Roberts
BDM Match (85%)	John Green	Frances Isabella Roberts
	💍 1915/2401
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	4283
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon Packe

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).