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 3229

District of Riverton Quarter ending 30 June 1915 Registrar Arthur Evan Dobbie

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

941

12 April 1915

Peter Adamson
Agnes McIvor

Peter Adamson
Agnes McIvor
💍 1915/2404

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Lineman
Domestic Duties

30
25

Riverton
Riverton

3 days
20 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages Riverton

4310

12 April 1915

A. E. Dobbie

No	941
Date of Notice	12 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Adamson	Agnes McIvor
	💍 1915/2404
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Lineman	Domestic Duties
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages Riverton
Folio	4310
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1915
Officiating Minister	A. E. Dobbie

942

26 April 1915

William Thomas Fraser Macleod
Helen Southern

William Thomas Fraser Macleod
Helen Southern
💍 1915/2482

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household duties

33
23

Waimatuku
North Invercargill

30 years
3 weeks in Invercargill

Presbyterian Church at North Invercargill

4419

26 April 1915

Rev John Chisholm

No	942
Date of Notice	26 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Fraser Macleod	Helen Southern
	💍 1915/2482
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household duties
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Waimatuku	North Invercargill
Length of Residence	30 years	3 weeks in Invercargill
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church at North Invercargill
Folio	4419
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev John Chisholm

943

19 May 1915

John Martin
Ethel Mary Pankhurst

John Martin
Ethel Mary Pankhurst
💍 1915/736

Bachelor
Spinster

Surfaceman
Domestic duties

23
22

Riverton
Longwood near Riverton

3 days
22 years at Longwood

Residence of Mr W. S. Pankhurst Longwood

2721

19 May 1915

Rev John Webber

No	943
Date of Notice	19 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Martin	Ethel Mary Pankhurst
	💍 1915/736
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman	Domestic duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Longwood near Riverton
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years at Longwood
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr W. S. Pankhurst Longwood
Folio	2721
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev John Webber

944

27 May 1915

Robert Boniface
Stella Daisy Stenton

Robert Boniface
Stella Daisy Stenton
💍 1915/2405

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

23
20

Otaitai
Otaitai

3 years
20 years at Riverton

Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Riverton

4311

Joseph Stenton, father

27 May 1915

A. E. Dobbie

No	944
Date of Notice	27 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Boniface	Stella Daisy Stenton
	💍 1915/2405
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Otaitai	Otaitai
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years at Riverton
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Riverton
Folio	4311
Consent	Joseph Stenton, father
Date of Certificate	27 May 1915
Officiating Minister	A. E. Dobbie

945

2 June 1915

Francis Alexander Wilkinson
Annie Violet Dryden

Francis Alexander Wilkinson
Annie Violet Dryden
💍 1915/10308

Bachelor
Spinster

Millhead
Domestic duties

22
19

Longwood
Longwood

22 years
3 years

Dwelling of Alex Alexander Dryden at Longwood

2713

Alexander Dryden, father

2 June 1915

Rev C. A. Gray

No	945
Date of Notice	2 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Alexander Wilkinson	Annie Violet Dryden
	💍 1915/10308
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Millhead	Domestic duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Longwood	Longwood
Length of Residence	22 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Alex Alexander Dryden at Longwood
Folio	2713
Consent	Alexander Dryden, father
Date of Certificate	2 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev C. A. Gray

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).