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 3199

District of Nightcaps Quarter ending 30 June 1915 Registrar Geo. S. Applegarth

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

1 April 1915

Edwin Kidd
Ellen Drew

Edwin Kidd
Ellen Frew
💍 1915/2394

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household

36
33

Opio
Opio

2 years
30 years

Presbyterian Church Nightcaps

4299

1 April 1915

Rev. A. Macdonald

No	1
Date of Notice	1 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Kidd	Ellen Drew
BDM Match (95%)	Edwin Kidd	Ellen Frew
	💍 1915/2394
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household
Age	36	33
Dwelling Place	Opio	Opio
Length of Residence	2 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Nightcaps
Folio	4299
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Macdonald

20 April 1915

Bertram Newling Spence
Minnie Eliza Bradley

Bertram Newling Spence
Minnie Eliza Bradley
💍 1915/2427

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Household

30
21

Otautau
Nightcaps

3 days
21 years

Anglican Church Otautau

4309

20 April 1915

Rev. E. P. Webb

No	2
Date of Notice	20 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertram Newling Spence	Minnie Eliza Bradley
	💍 1915/2427
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Household
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Otautau	Nightcaps
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Otautau
Folio	4309
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. P. Webb

24 April 1915

James William Hishon
Catherine Mary Teresa Murphy

James William Hishon
Catherine Mary Tresa Murphy
💍 1915/2391

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

23
20

Wreys Bush
Wreys Bush

3 days
20 years

St Peters Church Wreys Bush

4296

Denis Murphy Father

24 April 1915

Rev. Father James Lynch

No	3
Date of Notice	24 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Hishon	Catherine Mary Teresa Murphy
BDM Match (98%)	James William Hishon	Catherine Mary Tresa Murphy
	💍 1915/2391
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Wreys Bush	Wreys Bush
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church Wreys Bush
Folio	4296
Consent	Denis Murphy Father
Date of Certificate	24 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father James Lynch

13 May 1915

William Dixon
Clara Jane Green

William Dixon
Clara Jane Green
💍 1915/2392

Bachelor
Widow

Mine Manager
Domestic

48
42

Nightcaps
Nightcaps

3 years
3 days at W. Dixon Morley Nightcaps

W. Dixon Dwelling Morley Nightcaps

4297

13 May 1915

Rev. A. Macdonald

No	4
Date of Notice	13 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Dixon	Clara Jane Green
	💍 1915/2392
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Mine Manager	Domestic
Age	48	42
Dwelling Place	Nightcaps	Nightcaps
Length of Residence	3 years	3 days at W. Dixon Morley Nightcaps
Marriage Place	W. Dixon Dwelling Morley Nightcaps
Folio	4297
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Macdonald

21 May 1915

James Alexander Dodds
Margaret Frame Ayton

James Alexander Dodds
Margaret Frame Ayton
💍 1915/2388

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

30
27

Wairio
Aparima

30 years
27 years

Mrs Ayton's dwelling at Aparima

4294

21 May 1915

Rev. A. Macdonald

No	5
Date of Notice	21 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alexander Dodds	Margaret Frame Ayton
	💍 1915/2388
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Wairio	Aparima
Length of Residence	30 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Mrs Ayton's dwelling at Aparima
Folio	4294
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Macdonald

25 May 1915

Walter Anderson
Eva Pearl Excell

Walter Anderson
Eva Pearl Excell
💍 1915/2390

Bachelor
Spinster

Postmaster
Domestic

25
26

Otautau
Nightcaps

3 days
9 days

St Andrews Church Otautau

4295

25 May 1915

Rev. E. P. Webb

No	6
Date of Notice	25 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Anderson	Eva Pearl Excell
	💍 1915/2390
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postmaster	Domestic
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Otautau	Nightcaps
Length of Residence	3 days	9 days
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church Otautau
Folio	4295
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. P. Webb

25 June 1915

George Dickson
Louisa Somerville

George Dickson
Louisa Somerville
💍 1915/2393

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic

34
23

Nightcaps
Nightcaps

33 years
17 years

Mr Somerville's Dwelling Nightcaps

4298

25 June 1915

Rev. J. G. Weir

No	7
Date of Notice	25 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Dickson	Louisa Somerville
	💍 1915/2393
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Nightcaps	Nightcaps
Length of Residence	33 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Mr Somerville's Dwelling Nightcaps
Folio	4298
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Weir

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).