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 3231

District of Riverton Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar A. L. 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

945

02 June 1915

Francis Alexander Wilkinson
Annie Violet Dryden

Francis Alexander Wilkinson
Annie Violet Dryden
💍 1915/10308

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill hand
Domestic duties

22
19

Longwood
Longwood

22 years
3 years

Dwelling of Mrs Alexander Dryden at Longwood

Alexander Dryden, father.

02 June 1915

Rev C. A. Gray

No	945
Date of Notice	02 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Alexander Wilkinson	Annie Violet Dryden
	💍 1915/10308
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill hand	Domestic duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Longwood	Longwood
Length of Residence	22 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mrs Alexander Dryden at Longwood
Folio
Consent	Alexander Dryden, father.
Date of Certificate	02 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev C. A. Gray

946

12 June 1915

William Jukes
Elizabeth Robbie

William Jukes
Elizabeth Robbie
💍 1915/2483

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

23
25

Waimatuku
Waimatuku

7 days
24 years

Presbyterian Church at Waimatuku

12 June 1915

Rev J. Chisholm

No	946
Date of Notice	12 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Jukes	Elizabeth Robbie
	💍 1915/2483
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Waimatuku	Waimatuku
Length of Residence	7 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church at Waimatuku
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Chisholm

947

22 June 1915

John Campbell
Eva Greig

John Campbell
Eva Greig
💍 1915/2368

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter New Zealand Railways
Domestic duties

24
23

Thornbury
Invercargill

2 years
3 days

Dwelling of the Rev R. M. Ryburn, Tay Street, Invercargill

22 June 1915

Rev R. M. Ryburn

No	947
Date of Notice	22 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Campbell	Eva Greig
	💍 1915/2368
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter New Zealand Railways	Domestic duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Thornbury	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Dwelling of the Rev R. M. Ryburn, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev R. M. Ryburn

948

10 July 1915

Arthur Evan Dobbie
Gladys Sinclair Trotter

Arthur Evan Dobbie
Gladys Sinclair Trotter
💍 1915/4170

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk of Court
Household duties

28
23

Riverton
Riverton

1 year
14 years

Church of England Riverton

6342

10 July 1915

Rev Hoani Parata

No	948
Date of Notice	10 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Evan Dobbie	Gladys Sinclair Trotter
	💍 1915/4170
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk of Court	Household duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	1 year	14 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Riverton
Folio	6342
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Hoani Parata

949

12 August 1915

John O'Donnell
Mary Ann Sheridan

John O'Donnell
Mary Ann Sheridan
💍 1915/4171

Bachelor
Spinster

Surfaceman New Zealand Railways
Household duties

23
23

Gropers Bush
Gropers Bush

12 months
23 years

Dwelling of Mrs Patrick Sheridan at Gropers Bush

6343

12 August 1915

Rev P. Murphy

No	949
Date of Notice	12 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John O'Donnell	Mary Ann Sheridan
	💍 1915/4171
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman New Zealand Railways	Household duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Gropers Bush	Gropers Bush
Length of Residence	12 months	23 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mrs Patrick Sheridan at Gropers Bush
Folio	6343
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev P. Murphy

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).