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 2429

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 June 1916 Registrar R. Orwin

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

22 May 1916

Arthur Banks Macintosh
Kathleen Dorothea Dalton

Arthur Banks Macintosh
Katherine Dorothea Dalton
💍 1916/12714

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller (accepted for military service)
Waitress

24
26

Timaru
Timaru

exempt
11 years

Catholic Church Timaru

Not sold See RG 1916/312/2

22 May 1916

Dean Tubman, Catholic

No	59
Date of Notice	22 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Banks Macintosh	Kathleen Dorothea Dalton
BDM Match (92%)	Arthur Banks Macintosh	Katherine Dorothea Dalton
	💍 1916/12714
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller (accepted for military service)	Waitress
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	exempt	11 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church Timaru
Folio	Not sold See RG 1916/312/2
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Dean Tubman, Catholic

24 May 1916

Henry James Stowell
Elizabeth Ellen Hampton

Henry James Stowell
Elizabeth Ellen Hampton
💍 1916/6759

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

30
23

St Andrews
St Andrews

30 years
23 years

St Mary's English Church or Valley St Andrews

4249

24 May 1916

Rev. L. C. Brady, Anglican

No	60
Date of Notice	24 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Stowell	Elizabeth Ellen Hampton
	💍 1916/6759
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	St Andrews	St Andrews
Length of Residence	30 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's English Church or Valley St Andrews
Folio	4249
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. C. Brady, Anglican

24 May 1916

Mark Austin Richards
Olive Edna Isabella Growden

Mark Austin Richards
Olive Edna Isabella Growden
💍 1916/6772

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor (accepted for Military Service)
Nil

28
25

Timaru
Timaru

2 days
5 weeks

Manse of Rev. G. R. Harris, Harper St Timaru

4263

24 May 1916

Rev. G. R. Harris, Presbyterian

No	61
Date of Notice	24 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mark Austin Richards	Olive Edna Isabella Growden
	💍 1916/6772
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor (accepted for Military Service)	Nil
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	2 days	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Manse of Rev. G. R. Harris, Harper St Timaru
Folio	4263
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. R. Harris, Presbyterian

31 May 1916

John Preston
Florence Olive Young

John Preston
Florence Olive Young
💍 1916/1144

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Nil

26
19

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
3 years

St Marys English Church Timaru

4264

Robert Hunter Young (father)

31 May 1916

Archdeacon Jacob, Anglican

No	62
Date of Notice	31 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Preston	Florence Olive Young
	💍 1916/1144
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Nil
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	St Marys English Church Timaru
Folio	4264
Consent	Robert Hunter Young (father)
Date of Certificate	31 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon Jacob, Anglican

31 May 1916

Walter Edward Davis
Susannah Owens

Walter Edward Davis
Sushannah Owens
💍 1916/6784

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer
Shop Assistant

35
26

Timaru
Timaru

9 years
26 years

Trinity Church Timaru

4253

31 May 1916

Rev. J. Stinson, Presbyterian

No	63
Date of Notice	31 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Edward Davis	Susannah Owens
BDM Match (97%)	Walter Edward Davis	Sushannah Owens
	💍 1916/6784
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer	Shop Assistant
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	9 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Church Timaru
Folio	4253
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Stinson, Presbyterian

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).