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 3154

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar J. G. Petrie

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

132

3 August 1915

John Batt
Elsie Innes Mary Allan

John Butt
Elsie Innes Mary Allan
💍 1915/4071

Bachelor
Spinster

Photographer
Domestic

34
20

Makarewa, Invercargill
Waikiwi, Invercargill

20 years
6 months

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

6294

Ernest Henry Lewis Allan, father

5 August 1915

Registrar

No	132
Date of Notice	3 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Batt	Elsie Innes Mary Allan
BDM Match (94%)	John Butt	Elsie Innes Mary Allan
	💍 1915/4071
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Photographer	Domestic
Age	34	20
Dwelling Place	Makarewa, Invercargill	Waikiwi, Invercargill
Length of Residence	20 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	6294
Consent	Ernest Henry Lewis Allan, father
Date of Certificate	5 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

133

4 August 1915

Douglas Robert Double
Ethel Elizabeth Jane Sharp

Douglas Robert Double
Ethel Elizabeth Jane Sharp
💍 1915/4089

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanical Dentist
Photographer Assistant

23
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
10 years

Methodist Church, Don Street, Invercargill

6311

4 August 1915

S. Henderson

No	133
Date of Notice	4 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Robert Double	Ethel Elizabeth Jane Sharp
	💍 1915/4089
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanical Dentist	Photographer Assistant
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Don Street, Invercargill
Folio	6311
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1915
Officiating Minister	S. Henderson

134

4 August 1915

Arthur Butler
Margaret Elizabeth Witty

Arthur Butler
Margaret Elizabeth Wilty
💍 1915/2499

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman N.Z.R.
Domestic

25
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

2.5 years
5 years

English Church, Gladstone, Invercargill

441W

4 August 1915

Rev. Canon G. Fynes-Clinton

No	134
Date of Notice	4 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Butler	Margaret Elizabeth Witty
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Butler	Margaret Elizabeth Wilty
	💍 1915/2499
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman N.Z.R.	Domestic
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2.5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Gladstone, Invercargill
Folio	441W
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon G. Fynes-Clinton

135

9 August 1915

Samuel Young
Elizabeth Sandri

Samuel Young
Elizabeth Sandri
💍 1915/2485

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

33
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 years
2.5 years

Residence of Hannah Maria Sandri, 27 Kelvin Street, Invercargill

442W

9 August 1915

Very Rev. W. Burke

No	135
Date of Notice	9 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Young	Elizabeth Sandri
	💍 1915/2485
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	2.5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Hannah Maria Sandri, 27 Kelvin Street, Invercargill
Folio	442W
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. W. Burke

136

11 August 1915

Robert Ramsay Henderson
Annie Alexandrina Christine Craig

Robert Ramsay Henderson
Annie Alexandrine Christina Cray
💍 1915/4108

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Waitress

28
30

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
2 days

Residence of R. H. Ramsay, 198 Dee Street, Invercargill

6306

11 August 1915

Rev. W. H. Ready

No	136
Date of Notice	11 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Ramsay Henderson	Annie Alexandrina Christine Craig
BDM Match (94%)	Robert Ramsay Henderson	Annie Alexandrine Christina Cray
	💍 1915/4108
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Waitress
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	2 days
Marriage Place	Residence of R. H. Ramsay, 198 Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	6306
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Ready

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).