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 3213

District of Orepuki Quarter ending 30 June 1915 Registrar T. Risken

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

12 April 1915

Joseph Henry Lobb
Margaret Cecilia Griffin

Joseph Henry Lobb
Margaret Cecilia Griffin
💍 1915/2403

Bachelor
Spinster

Drapery Store-Keeper
Domestic duties

31
20

Tuatapere
Te Waewae

5 years
20 years

Roman Catholic Church at Te Waewae

4301

John Griffin, Father

13 April 1915

Rev Father P. Murphy, Roman Catholic

No	2
Date of Notice	12 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Henry Lobb	Margaret Cecilia Griffin
	💍 1915/2403
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drapery Store-Keeper	Domestic duties
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Tuatapere	Te Waewae
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church at Te Waewae
Folio	4301
Consent	John Griffin, Father
Date of Certificate	13 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Father P. Murphy, Roman Catholic

13 April 1915

Askan Smith
Ivy Mary Shirley

Askan Smith
Ivy May Shirley
💍 1915/2414

Bachelor
Spinster

Traveller
Domestic duties

23
21

Orepuki
Orepuki

7 days
10 days

Roman Catholic Church at Orepuki

4302

13 April 1915

Rev Father P. Murphy, Roman Catholic

No	3
Date of Notice	13 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Askan Smith	Ivy Mary Shirley
BDM Match (97%)	Askan Smith	Ivy May Shirley
	💍 1915/2414
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Traveller	Domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Orepuki	Orepuki
Length of Residence	7 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church at Orepuki
Folio	4302
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Father P. Murphy, Roman Catholic

21 April 1915

Andrew Ramsay Mackintosh
Susan Jane Miller

Andrew Ramsey MacKintosh
Susan Jane Miller
💍 1915/2424

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

39
19

Clifden
Te Tua

20 years
19 years

Presbyterian Manse at Orepuki

4306

Alex Miller, Father

21 April 1915

Rev J. G. Lopdell, Presbyterian Minister

No	4
Date of Notice	21 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Ramsay Mackintosh	Susan Jane Miller
BDM Match (96%)	Andrew Ramsey MacKintosh	Susan Jane Miller
	💍 1915/2424
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	39	19
Dwelling Place	Clifden	Te Tua
Length of Residence	20 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse at Orepuki
Folio	4306
Consent	Alex Miller, Father
Date of Certificate	21 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev J. G. Lopdell, Presbyterian Minister

17 May 1915

John Herbert Templeton
Ethel Crow

John Herbert Templeton
Ethel Crow
💍 1915/2421

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

34
22

Tuatapere
Pahia

7 years
5 years

Registrars office at Orepuki

4303

17 May 1915

T. Risken, Registrar, Orepuki

No	5
Date of Notice	17 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Herbert Templeton	Ethel Crow
	💍 1915/2421
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Tuatapere	Pahia
Length of Residence	7 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrars office at Orepuki
Folio	4303
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 May 1915
Officiating Minister	T. Risken, Registrar, Orepuki

12 June 1915

Ernest John Young
Ethel May Grey

Ernest John Young
Ethel May Grey
💍 1915/2423

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic duties

27
19

Tuatapere
Tuatapere

6 months
5 years

Private residence of Mrs Grey at Tuatapere

4305

M. A. Grey, Mother (Father deceased)

12 June 1915

Rev. William Hutchinson, Tuatapere Methodist Church

No	6
Date of Notice	12 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest John Young	Ethel May Grey
	💍 1915/2423
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Tuatapere	Tuatapere
Length of Residence	6 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mrs Grey at Tuatapere
Folio	4305
Consent	M. A. Grey, Mother (Father deceased)
Date of Certificate	12 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Hutchinson, Tuatapere Methodist Church

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).