Intentions to Marry, 1916 Rangiora to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840468, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1916 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.

1916f contains pages 2397-3014, covering districts from Rangiora to Chatham Islands

Page 2425

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 June 1916 Registrar A. Irwin

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

6 April 1916

Agh Lin Lum
Hannah Christina Clark

Ngh Gin Lum
Hannah Christina Clark
💍 1916/6769

Bachelor
Spinster

Market Gardener
Household duties

48
19

Timaru
Timaru

24 years
8 years

Registrar's Office Timaru

4260

Hannah Bertha Andreassend Mother

6 April 1916

Alex. Montgomery Registrar

No	39
Date of Notice	6 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Agh Lin Lum	Hannah Christina Clark
BDM Match (91%)	Ngh Gin Lum	Hannah Christina Clark
	💍 1916/6769
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Market Gardener	Household duties
Age	48	19
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	24 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Timaru
Folio	4260
Consent	Hannah Bertha Andreassend Mother
Date of Certificate	6 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Alex. Montgomery Registrar

8 April 1916

John Christopher Dobbs
Olive Elizabeth Henderson

John Christopher Dobby
Olive Elizabeth Henderson
💍 1916/6771

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

30
19

Kohika
St Andrews

18 months
2 years

Dwelling house of J. R. Henderson Esk Valley St Andrews

4262

Samuel Robert Henderson Father

8 April 1916

Rev. D. M. Buttle Presbyterian

No	40
Date of Notice	8 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Christopher Dobbs	Olive Elizabeth Henderson
BDM Match (98%)	John Christopher Dobby	Olive Elizabeth Henderson
	💍 1916/6771
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Kohika	St Andrews
Length of Residence	18 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of J. R. Henderson Esk Valley St Andrews
Folio	4262
Consent	Samuel Robert Henderson Father
Date of Certificate	8 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. M. Buttle Presbyterian

11 April 1916

William Spence Harris
Ethel Maud Alice Fowler

William Spence Harris
Ethel Maud Alice Fowler
💍 1916/6790

Widower
Spinster

Carting Contractor
Dressmaker

30
24

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
12 years

Dwelling house of Mrs F. Stewart Melton Road Watlington Timaru

4259

11 April 1916

Rev R. B. Speers Methodist

No	41
Date of Notice	11 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Spence Harris	Ethel Maud Alice Fowler
	💍 1916/6790
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carting Contractor	Dressmaker
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	12 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mrs F. Stewart Melton Road Watlington Timaru
Folio	4259
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev R. B. Speers Methodist

14 April 1916

Charles Clark
Ruby Donycliffe Hubbard

Charles Clark
Ruby Toneycliffe Hubbard
💍 1916/6758

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Domestic duties

29
21

Pareora
St Andrews

2 years
11 years

English Church St Andrews

4248

14 April 1916

Rev. L. C. Brady Anglican

No	42
Date of Notice	14 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Clark	Ruby Donycliffe Hubbard
BDM Match (96%)	Charles Clark	Ruby Toneycliffe Hubbard
	💍 1916/6758
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Domestic duties
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Pareora	St Andrews
Length of Residence	2 years	11 years
Marriage Place	English Church St Andrews
Folio	4248
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. C. Brady Anglican

17 April 1916

George Thomas Smith
Emily Mary Ann Berry

George Thomas Smith
Emily Mary Ann Berry
💍 1916/6770

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

34
33

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
3 days

Manse of Rev. I. Sarginson Timaru

4261

17 April 1916

Rev. I. Sarginson Congregational

No	43
Date of Notice	17 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomas Smith	Emily Mary Ann Berry
	💍 1916/6770
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Manse of Rev. I. Sarginson Timaru
Folio	4261
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Sarginson Congregational

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).