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 2441

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 December 1916 Registrar Leslie G. Bruce

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

109

17 October 1916

Andrew Stewart
Beulah May de Hughes

Andrew Stewart
Beulah Mazie Hughes
💍 1916/2808

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic Duties

27
23

Timaru
Timaru

7 years
23 years

Woodlands Street Methodist Church, Timaru

7994

17 October 1916

Rev R J Liddell, Methodist

No	109
Date of Notice	17 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Stewart	Beulah May de Hughes
BDM Match (93%)	Andrew Stewart	Beulah Mazie Hughes
	💍 1916/2808
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic Duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	7 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Woodlands Street Methodist Church, Timaru
Folio	7994
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev R J Liddell, Methodist

110

24 October 1916

Luther Turvey
Mabel Caroline Dudley

Luther Turvey
Mabel Caroline Dudley
💍 1916/2810

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Tailoress

36
31

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
31 years

St Mary's Church, Timaru

7995

24 October 1916

Rev J. M. M. Walters, Anglican

No	110
Date of Notice	24 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Luther Turvey	Mabel Caroline Dudley
	💍 1916/2810
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Tailoress
Age	36	31
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	31 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Timaru
Folio	7995
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev J. M. M. Walters, Anglican

111

24 October 1916

William Richard Brinsley
Dallas Marguerite Hanrahan

William Richard Bunsley
Dallas Margueritte Hanrahan
💍 1916/2811

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironfounder's Traveller
Domestic Duties

29
21

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Timaru

7996

24 October 1916

Leslie G. Bruce, Registrar

No	111
Date of Notice	24 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Richard Brinsley	Dallas Marguerite Hanrahan
BDM Match (94%)	William Richard Bunsley	Dallas Margueritte Hanrahan
	💍 1916/2811
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironfounder's Traveller	Domestic Duties
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Timaru
Folio	7996
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Leslie G. Bruce, Registrar

112

28 October 1916

George Edward Smith
Clara Ellen Creasey

George Edward Smith
Clara Ellen Creasey
💍 1916/2812

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Weaver

32
22

Pareora
Pareora

9 years
5 years

Bank Street Methodist Church, Timaru

7997

28 October 1916

Rev J A Coughlan, Methodist

No	112
Date of Notice	28 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Smith	Clara Ellen Creasey
	💍 1916/2812
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Weaver
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Pareora	Pareora
Length of Residence	9 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Bank Street Methodist Church, Timaru
Folio	7997
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev J A Coughlan, Methodist

113

31 October 1916

Francis Thomas McAnulty
Alice Green

Francis Thomas McAnulty
Alice Green
💍 1916/2813

Thomas Fenwick
Alice Green
💍 1916/463

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Manager
Domestic Duties

47
36

Timaru
Timaru

4 days
14 days

Registrar's Office, Timaru

7998

31 October 1916

Leslie G. Bruce, Registrar

No	113
Date of Notice	31 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Thomas McAnulty	Alice Green
	💍 1916/2813
BDM Match (67%)	Thomas Fenwick	Alice Green
	💍 1916/463
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	47	36
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Timaru
Folio	7998
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Leslie G. Bruce, Registrar

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).