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 3130

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1915

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

29 January 1915

William John Riddell
Emily Heywood

William John Riddell
Emily Heywood
💍 1915/9219

Bachelor
Spinster

Woodware Manufacturer
Seamstress

50
34

Invercargill
Invercargill

30 years
10 years

English Church, St Johns, Invercargill

1499

29 January 1915

Ven Archdeacon Packe

No	16
Date of Notice	29 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Riddell	Emily Heywood
	💍 1915/9219
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woodware Manufacturer	Seamstress
Age	50	34
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	30 years	10 years
Marriage Place	English Church, St Johns, Invercargill
Folio	1499
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Ven Archdeacon Packe

1 February 1915

Norman Douglas Facer
Mary Stanton

Norman Douglas Facer
Mary Stanton
💍 1915/7936

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician
House duties

26
42

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 days
4 1/2 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill

1526

1 February 1915

Very Rev W. Burke

No	17
Date of Notice	1 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Douglas Facer	Mary Stanton
	💍 1915/7936
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician	House duties
Age	26	42
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 days	4 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill
Folio	1526
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Very Rev W. Burke

2 February 1915

Robert Lewis Jenkins
Letitia Sylvia Melson

Robert Lewis Jenkins
Letitia Sylvia Neilson
💍 1915/13270

Bachelor
Spinster

Turner
Domestic

23
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

23 years
3 years

Residence of Mrs Melson, Spey Street South, Invercargill

1501

2 February 1915

Rev Edward Gardiner

No	18
Date of Notice	2 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Lewis Jenkins	Letitia Sylvia Melson
BDM Match (95%)	Robert Lewis Jenkins	Letitia Sylvia Neilson
	💍 1915/13270
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Turner	Domestic
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	23 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Melson, Spey Street South, Invercargill
Folio	1501
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Edward Gardiner

2 February 1915

Robert Frederick Roper
Annie Swallow Stuart

Robert Frederick Crozier
Annie Swallow Stewart
💍 1915/9216

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Domestic

34
30

Invercargill
Invercargill

9 years
30 years

Residence of Mrs Stewart, Centre Street, Enwood, Invercargill

1497

2 February 1915

Rev E. P. Hood

No	19
Date of Notice	2 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Frederick Roper	Annie Swallow Stuart
BDM Match (87%)	Robert Frederick Crozier	Annie Swallow Stewart
	💍 1915/9216
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	9 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Stewart, Centre Street, Enwood, Invercargill
Folio	1497
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev E. P. Hood

3 February 1915

John Donovan Hands
Grace Mapletoft

John Donovan Hands
Grace Mapletoft
💍 1915/13287

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic

22
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

27 years
7 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill

1525

3 February 1915

Very Rev W. Burke

No	20
Date of Notice	3 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Donovan Hands	Grace Mapletoft
	💍 1915/13287
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	27 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill
Folio	1525
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Very Rev W. Burke

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).