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 3142

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

28 April 1915

Alan Leslie Barnard Ross
Adele Belton Pilcher

Alan Leslie Barnard Ross
Adela Belton Pilcher
💍 1915/2415

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor on active service
Home duties

28
25

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 years
22 years

Residence of Edward Belton Pilcher, Grey St, Invercargill

4320

28 April 1915

Rev. M. G. Burridge

No	72
Date of Notice	28 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alan Leslie Barnard Ross	Adele Belton Pilcher
BDM Match (98%)	Alan Leslie Barnard Ross	Adela Belton Pilcher
	💍 1915/2415
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor on active service	Home duties
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Edward Belton Pilcher, Grey St, Invercargill
Folio	4320
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. G. Burridge

28 April 1915

William Thomas Fraser Maclean
Helen Southern

William Thomas Fraser Macleod
Helen Southern
💍 1915/2482

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home duties

33
23

Otautau, Riverton
Invercargill

30 years
21 years

Presbyterian Church, North Invercargill

4419

28 April 1915

Rev. J. Chisholm

No	73
Date of Notice	28 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Fraser Maclean	Helen Southern
BDM Match (97%)	William Thomas Fraser Macleod	Helen Southern
	💍 1915/2482
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home duties
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Otautau, Riverton	Invercargill
Length of Residence	30 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, North Invercargill
Folio	4419
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Chisholm

30 April 1915

William Gordon
Margaret Gray

William Gordon
Margaret Gray
💍 1915/2389

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

33
25

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 years
3 years

Residence of Mrs Ann Gray, Ythan St, Invercargill

4277

30 April 1915

Rev. E. Gardiner

No	74
Date of Notice	30 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gordon	Margaret Gray
	💍 1915/2389
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Ann Gray, Ythan St, Invercargill
Folio	4277
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Gardiner

1 May 1915

Richard Dalton Penneen
Elizabeth Lois Crombie

Richard Dalton Dinneen
Elizabeth Irvine Crombie
💍 1915/2396

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk
Domestic duties

29
26

Dunedin
Invercargill

5 years
1 year

Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill

4278

1 May 1915

Rev. R. Ryburn

No	75
Date of Notice	1 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Dalton Penneen	Elizabeth Lois Crombie
BDM Match (85%)	Richard Dalton Dinneen	Elizabeth Irvine Crombie
	💍 1915/2396
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill
Folio	4278
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Ryburn

3 May 1915

Frederick George Albert Stuckey
Mary Manson

Frederick George Albert Stuckey
Mary Morrison
💍 1915/2397

Widower
Spinster

Inspector of Schools
Teacher of music

44
30

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 days
9 years

Residence of Thomas Morrison, 51 Spey St, Invercargill

4279

3 May 1915

Rev. Geo. Shaw

No	76
Date of Notice	3 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick George Albert Stuckey	Mary Manson
BDM Match (85%)	Frederick George Albert Stuckey	Mary Morrison
	💍 1915/2397
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Inspector of Schools	Teacher of music
Age	44	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 days	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Thomas Morrison, 51 Spey St, Invercargill
Folio	4279
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Shaw

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).