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 2986

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar A. A. Blair

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

3339

6 August 1915

John Ernest Latimer
Eveline Maude Welch

John Ernest Latimer
Eveline Maud Welch
💍 1915/3992

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Fireman
Domestic Duties

21
18

Oamaru
Oamaru

21 years
18 years

residence of Mr. Samuel Welch, Mersey Street, Oamaru

6231

Samuel Welch, Father

6 August 1915

Rev. H. Robinson

No	3339
Date of Notice	6 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ernest Latimer	Eveline Maude Welch
BDM Match (97%)	John Ernest Latimer	Eveline Maud Welch
	💍 1915/3992
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Fireman	Domestic Duties
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	21 years	18 years
Marriage Place	residence of Mr. Samuel Welch, Mersey Street, Oamaru
Folio	6231
Consent	Samuel Welch, Father
Date of Certificate	6 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Robinson

3340

10 August 1915

James Andrew McKenzie
Margaret Madigan

James Andrew McKenzie
Margaret Maddigan
💍 1915/4059

Alexander McKenzie
Margaret Matheson
💍 1915/4408

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxi Proprietor
Domestic Duties

24
25

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 years
25 years

residence of Mr. John Madigan, Itchen Street, Oamaru

6230

10 August 1915

Rev. Lawson Robinson

No	3340
Date of Notice	10 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Andrew McKenzie	Margaret Madigan
BDM Match (97%)	James Andrew McKenzie	Margaret Maddigan
	💍 1915/4059
BDM Match (66%)	Alexander McKenzie	Margaret Matheson
	💍 1915/4408
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxi Proprietor	Domestic Duties
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 years	25 years
Marriage Place	residence of Mr. John Madigan, Itchen Street, Oamaru
Folio	6230
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Lawson Robinson

3341

12 August 1915

Edwin James Christensen
Jane Louisa McAuley

Edwin James Christensen
Jane Louisa McAuley
💍 1915/4055

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Domestic Duties

26
21

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 years
4 years

Church of Christ, Oamaru

6226

12 August 1915

J. H. Mathieson

No	3341
Date of Notice	12 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin James Christensen	Jane Louisa McAuley
	💍 1915/4055
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Domestic Duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Oamaru
Folio	6226
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1915
Officiating Minister	J. H. Mathieson

3342

16 August 1915

Robert Gordon Flavell
Doris Margaret Schwass

Robert Gordon Flavell
Doris Margaret Schwass
💍 1915/4010

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Duties

25
30

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
4 months

St Luke's Church, Oamaru

6233

16 August 1915

Rev. J. D. Russell

No	3342
Date of Notice	16 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Gordon Flavell	Doris Margaret Schwass
	💍 1915/4010
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	30
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	4 months
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church, Oamaru
Folio	6233
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Russell

3343

16 August 1915

George Sackville Ridley
Eva Hearne Dunn

George Sackville Ridley
Eva Hearne Gunn
💍 1915/4003

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Schoolteacher

28
29

Oamaru
Oamaru

6 days
2 weeks

Residence of Mr. Farquhar Gunn, 34 Hull Street, Oamaru

6232

16 August 1915

Rev. William Wright

No	3343
Date of Notice	16 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Sackville Ridley	Eva Hearne Dunn
BDM Match (97%)	George Sackville Ridley	Eva Hearne Gunn
	💍 1915/4003
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Schoolteacher
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	6 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Farquhar Gunn, 34 Hull Street, Oamaru
Folio	6232
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Wright

3344

23 August 1915

Laurence Henry Watson
Olive Bloomfield

Laurence Henry Watson
Olive Bloomfield
💍 1915/4011

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Housekeeper

24
22

Ngapara
Ngapara

14 years
16 months

Residence of Dr. Smyth, Ngapara

6234

23 August 1915

Rev. Henry Clarke

No	3344
Date of Notice	23 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Laurence Henry Watson	Olive Bloomfield
	💍 1915/4011
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Housekeeper
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Ngapara	Ngapara
Length of Residence	14 years	16 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Dr. Smyth, Ngapara
Folio	6234
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Clarke

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).