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 3140

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 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

7 April 1915

George Thompson
Ann Tail

George Thomson
Ann Tait
💍 1915/2364

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Housemaid

30
30

Invercargill
Invercargill

7 years
7 months

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

4227

7 April 1915

Registrar

No	61
Date of Notice	7 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thompson	Ann Tail
BDM Match (90%)	George Thomson	Ann Tait
	💍 1915/2364
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Housemaid
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 years	7 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	4227
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

9 April 1915

John Ferry
Mary Elizabeth O'Neill

John Ferry
Mary Elizabeth O'Neill
💍 1915/2528

Bachelor
Spinster

Bookmaker
Tailoress

21
26

Invercargill
Invercargill

14 years
2 months

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill

4251

9 April 1915

Rev. J. O'Neill

No	62
Date of Notice	9 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ferry	Mary Elizabeth O'Neill
	💍 1915/2528
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bookmaker	Tailoress
Age	21	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	14 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill
Folio	4251
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Neill

10 April 1915

Alexander Henderson
Elspeth Dempster Pay

Alexander Henderson
Elspeth Dempster Pay
💍 1915/2399

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

26
24

Kennington, Invercargill
Kennington, Invercargill

11 years
24 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

4281

10 April 1915

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	64
Date of Notice	10 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Henderson	Elspeth Dempster Pay
	💍 1915/2399
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Kennington, Invercargill	Kennington, Invercargill
Length of Residence	11 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	4281
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

10 April 1915

Thomas Sadler
Jane Tweedie Young

Thomas Sadlier
Jane Tweedie Young
💍 1915/2366

Widower
Widow

Farmer
House duties

40
35

Woodlands, Invercargill
Woodlands, Invercargill

40 years
28 years

Residence of Alexander Wilson, 149 Pomona Street, Invercargill

4246

10 April 1915

Rev. G. H. Jupp

No	65
Date of Notice	10 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Sadler	Jane Tweedie Young
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas Sadlier	Jane Tweedie Young
	💍 1915/2366
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer	House duties
Age	40	35
Dwelling Place	Woodlands, Invercargill	Woodlands, Invercargill
Length of Residence	40 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Alexander Wilson, 149 Pomona Street, Invercargill
Folio	4246
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Jupp

14 April 1915

John Welsh
Ellen Ann Goldsmith

John Welsh
Ellen Ann Goldsmith
💍 1915/2371

Widower
Widow

Farmer
Housekeeper

72
44

Oreti Plains, Invercargill
One Tree Point, Invercargill

36 years
15 years

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

4228

14 April 1915

Registrar

No	66
Date of Notice	14 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Welsh	Ellen Ann Goldsmith
	💍 1915/2371
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	72	44
Dwelling Place	Oreti Plains, Invercargill	One Tree Point, Invercargill
Length of Residence	36 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	4228
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).