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 2624

District of Rangiora Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar Joseph Sargeant

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

23 August 1915

Leonard Walter Dench
Amy Edlin

Leonard Walter Dench
Amy Edlin
💍 1915/3964

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Dressmaker

28 years
21 years

Southbrook
Southbrook

28 years
21 years

Methodist Church, Southbrook

6136

23 August 1915

Wm Wills, Methodist

No	25
Date of Notice	23 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Walter Dench	Amy Edlin
	💍 1915/3964
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Dressmaker
Age	28 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Southbrook	Southbrook
Length of Residence	28 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Southbrook
Folio	6136
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Wm Wills, Methodist

24 August 1915

William John Adams
Rosie Ann Gleazier

William John Adams
Rosie Ann Gleazier
💍 1915/4583

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

22 years
17 years

Sefton
Sefton

4 months
4 months

Residence of Bride's father, Henry Gleazier, Sefton

6677

Henry Gleazier, Father

24 August 1915

J. Watt, Presbyterian

No	26
Date of Notice	24 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Adams	Rosie Ann Gleazier
	💍 1915/4583
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	22 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Sefton	Sefton
Length of Residence	4 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's father, Henry Gleazier, Sefton
Folio	6677
Consent	Henry Gleazier, Father
Date of Certificate	24 August 1915
Officiating Minister	J. Watt, Presbyterian

27 August 1915

John Cassidy
Mary Louisa Ellen Chinnery

John Cassidy
Mary Louisa Ellen Chinnery
💍 1915/5876

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

37 years
20 years

Woodend
Woodend

27 years
20 years

Residence of Bride's father, John Chinnery, Woodend

8249

John Chinnery, Father

27 August 1915

J. R. Clark, Methodist

No	27
Date of Notice	27 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Cassidy	Mary Louisa Ellen Chinnery
	💍 1915/5876
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	37 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Woodend	Woodend
Length of Residence	27 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's father, John Chinnery, Woodend
Folio	8249
Consent	John Chinnery, Father
Date of Certificate	27 August 1915
Officiating Minister	J. R. Clark, Methodist

1 September 1915

Herbert Lionel Bradford
Helen Grace Evelyn Skilling

Herbert Lionel Bradford
Helen Grace Evelyn Skilling
💍 1915/3966

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Bookkeeper

24 years
21 years

Palmerston North
Rangiora

5 years
21 years

Church of England, Rangiora

6138

1 September 1915

F. P. Fendall, Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	1 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Lionel Bradford	Helen Grace Evelyn Skilling
	💍 1915/3966
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Bookkeeper
Age	24 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Rangiora
Length of Residence	5 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Rangiora
Folio	6138
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1915
Officiating Minister	F. P. Fendall, Church of England

13 September 1915

Hugh Livingstone Chambers
Lucy Houston

Hugh Livingstone Chambers
Lucy Houston
💍 1915/3965

Hugh Livingston Chambers
Mary Louisa Houston
💍 1915/7179

Bachelor
Spinster

Stableman
Domestic duties

34 years
33 years

Rangiora
Fernside

3 years
10 years

Church of England, Fernside

6137

13 September 1915

F. P. Fendall, Church of England

No	29
Date of Notice	13 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Livingstone Chambers	Lucy Houston
	💍 1915/3965
BDM Match (74%)	Hugh Livingston Chambers	Mary Louisa Houston
	💍 1915/7179
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stableman	Domestic duties
Age	34 years	33 years
Dwelling Place	Rangiora	Fernside
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Fernside
Folio	6137
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 September 1915
Officiating Minister	F. P. Fendall, Church of England

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).