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 2648

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar Alex Montgomery

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

27 January 1915

John Martin Joseph O'Connor
Elizabeth Thomson McGregor Dickson

John Martin Joseph OConnor
Elizabeth Thomson McGregor Dickson
💍 1915/9117

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Household Duties

32
31

Timaru
Timaru

32 years
3 years

Roman Catholic Church Timaru

1371

27 January 1915

Rev. Father Murphy, Roman Catholic Priest

No	16
Date of Notice	27 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Martin Joseph O'Connor	Elizabeth Thomson McGregor Dickson
BDM Match (98%)	John Martin Joseph OConnor	Elizabeth Thomson McGregor Dickson
	💍 1915/9117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Household Duties
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	32 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Timaru
Folio	1371
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Murphy, Roman Catholic Priest

30 January 1915

Edward Joseph Rodgers
Sylvia Rubina Griffith

Edward Joseph Rodgers
Sylvia Rubina Murfitt
💍 1915/7865

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter N.Z.R.
Milliner

25
24

Washdyke
Christchurch

8 months
5 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

1562

30 January 1915

Rev. Father Murphy, Roman Catholic Priest

No	17
Date of Notice	30 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Joseph Rodgers	Sylvia Rubina Griffith
BDM Match (89%)	Edward Joseph Rodgers	Sylvia Rubina Murfitt
	💍 1915/7865
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter N.Z.R.	Milliner
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Washdyke	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	1562
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Murphy, Roman Catholic Priest

2 February 1915

John Leggott
Irene Maud Hunt

John Leggott
Irene Maud Hunt
💍 1915/8278

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Household Duties

27
27

Timaru
Wellington

24 years
14 months

Courtenay Place Congregational Church Wellington

3524

2 February 1915

Rev. J. Reed Glasson, Congregational Minister

No	18
Date of Notice	2 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Leggott	Irene Maud Hunt
	💍 1915/8278
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Household Duties
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Wellington
Length of Residence	24 years	14 months
Marriage Place	Courtenay Place Congregational Church Wellington
Folio	3524
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Reed Glasson, Congregational Minister

3 February 1915

Frank Swallow
Sarah Bowkett

Frank Swallow
Sarah Bowkell
💍 1915/9152

Widower
Spinster

Railway Storeman
Domestic Duties

46
35

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
5 days

Woodlands St. Methodist Church Timaru

1383

3 February 1915

Rev. R. J. Liddell, Methodist Minister

No	19
Date of Notice	3 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Swallow	Sarah Bowkett
BDM Match (92%)	Frank Swallow	Sarah Bowkell
	💍 1915/9152
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Railway Storeman	Domestic Duties
Age	46	35
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Woodlands St. Methodist Church Timaru
Folio	1383
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Liddell, Methodist Minister

3 February 1915

Edmund Herbert King
Violet Mary Hamson

Edmund Herbert King
Violet Mary Hamson
💍 1915/7896

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Nurse

31
35

Timaru
Christchurch

7 years
20 years

Holy Trinity Church Avonside Christchurch

1618

3 February 1915

Rev. O. Fitzgerald, Church of England Clergyman

No	20
Date of Notice	3 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Herbert King	Violet Mary Hamson
	💍 1915/7896
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Nurse
Age	31	35
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Avonside Christchurch
Folio	1618
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. Fitzgerald, Church of England Clergyman

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).