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 3201

District of Nightcaps Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar Geo. E. Appleby

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

2 July 1915

James Edward Blanch
Sarah Catherine Sutherland

James Edward Blanch
Sarah Catherine Sutherland
💍 1915/4159

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
37

Nightcaps
Nightcaps

27 years
37 years

Dwelling of Mr Robert Sutherland, Nightcaps

6357

2 July 1915

Rev. A. Macdonald

No	8
Date of Notice	2 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Edward Blanch	Sarah Catherine Sutherland
	💍 1915/4159
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	37
Dwelling Place	Nightcaps	Nightcaps
Length of Residence	27 years	37 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr Robert Sutherland, Nightcaps
Folio	6357
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Macdonald

9 July 1915

Colin Edward Wylie Brown
Helen Adair Nicholson

Colin Edward Wylie Brown
Helen Adair Nicholson
💍 1915/4156

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

22
23

Birchwood
Birchwood

4 years
3 years

Dwelling of Mr W. Nicholson, Birchwood

6354

9 July 1915

Rev. S. Swinerd

No	9
Date of Notice	9 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colin Edward Wylie Brown	Helen Adair Nicholson
	💍 1915/4156
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Birchwood	Birchwood
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr W. Nicholson, Birchwood
Folio	6354
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Swinerd

15 July 1915

James Spowart
Louisa Jane Keen

James Spowart
Louisa Jane Keen
💍 1915/4158

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Domestic Duties

29
23

Nightcaps
Wairio

3 days
23 years

Dwelling of Mr W. Keen, Wairio

6356

15 July 1915

Rev. J. G. Weir

No	10
Date of Notice	15 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Spowart	Louisa Jane Keen
	💍 1915/4158
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Domestic Duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Nightcaps	Wairio
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr W. Keen, Wairio
Folio	6356
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Weir

10 August 1915

George Cleveland
Margaret Mary Mellish Ellis

George Cleveland
Margaret Mary Mellise Ellis
💍 1915/5875

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

32
18

Wairio
Wairio

9 years
15 years

Residence of Mr Peter Ellis, Wairio

8248

Peter Ellis, father

10 August 1915

Rev. A. Bailey

No	11
Date of Notice	10 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Cleveland	Margaret Mary Mellish Ellis
BDM Match (98%)	George Cleveland	Margaret Mary Mellise Ellis
	💍 1915/5875
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	18
Dwelling Place	Wairio	Wairio
Length of Residence	9 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Peter Ellis, Wairio
Folio	8248
Consent	Peter Ellis, father
Date of Certificate	10 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Bailey

11 September 1915

William Good
Christina Violet Dickson

William Good
Christina Violet Dickson
💍 1915/4157

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal Miner
Domestic Duties

29
27

Nightcaps
Nightcaps

27 years
27 years

Dwelling of Mr George Dickson, Nightcaps

6355

11 September 1915

Rev. H. A. Edmanson

No	12
Date of Notice	11 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Good	Christina Violet Dickson
	💍 1915/4157
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal Miner	Domestic Duties
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Nightcaps	Nightcaps
Length of Residence	27 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr George Dickson, Nightcaps
Folio	6355
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Edmanson

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).