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 3132

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar J. G. Pitre

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

10 February 1915

John William MacLeod
Alice Isabella Stewart

John William Macleod
Alice Isabella Stewart
💍 1915/9217

Bachelor
Spinster

Tramway Employee
Domestic duties

30
26

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
26 years

Residence of David Stewart, Centre St., Georgetown, Invercargill

1498

10 February 1915

Rev. G. P. Hunt

No	26
Date of Notice	10 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William MacLeod	Alice Isabella Stewart
BDM Match (98%)	John William Macleod	Alice Isabella Stewart
	💍 1915/9217
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tramway Employee	Domestic duties
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of David Stewart, Centre St., Georgetown, Invercargill
Folio	1498
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Hunt

10 February 1915

Arthur Robert Dawson
Margaret Strang

Arthur Robert Dawson
Margaret Strang
💍 1915/9215

Bachelor
Spinster

Architect
Domestic duties

25
27

Invercargill
Invercargill

20 years
27 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay St., Invercargill

1496

10 February 1915

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	27
Date of Notice	10 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Robert Dawson	Margaret Strang
	💍 1915/9215
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Architect	Domestic duties
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	20 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay St., Invercargill
Folio	1496
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

15 February 1915

Herbert Watson
Catherine Spender

Herbert Watson
Catherine Hughes
💍 1915/13277

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

24
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

24 years
5 months

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

1516

16 February 1915

Registrar

No	28
Date of Notice	15 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Watson	Catherine Spender
BDM Match (82%)	Herbert Watson	Catherine Hughes
	💍 1915/13277
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	24 years	5 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	1516
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

15 February 1915

Stanley Eric Vincent Brown
Margaret Ann Selina Walton

Stanley Eric Vincent Brown
Margaret Ann Selina Walton
💍 1915/9423

Bachelor
Spinster

Surgeon
Teacher

29
23

Invercargill
Dunedin

2 months
3 years

Residence of Elizabeth Walton, 2 Brunswick Terrace, New Dunedin

1755

15 February 1915

Rev. W. A. Hay

No	29
Date of Notice	15 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Eric Vincent Brown	Margaret Ann Selina Walton
	💍 1915/9423
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surgeon	Teacher
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Elizabeth Walton, 2 Brunswick Terrace, New Dunedin
Folio	1755
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Hay

17 February 1915

George Rizzi
Ethel Daisy West

George Rizzi
Ethel Daisy Weir
💍 1915/9683

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Domestic

26
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 days
24 years

Presbyterian Church, Dee St., Invercargill

2466

17 February 1915

Rev. H. W. Burridge

No	30
Date of Notice	17 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Rizzi	Ethel Daisy West
BDM Match (94%)	George Rizzi	Ethel Daisy Weir
	💍 1915/9683
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Domestic
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee St., Invercargill
Folio	2466
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Burridge

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).