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 2541

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar Henry Maxwell

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

4 February 1916

William Bertram Murison
Ernestina Wilhelmina Cargill

William Bertram Murison
Ernestina Wilhelmina Cargill
💍 1916/10953

Bachelor
Widow

Master Mariner

49
48

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
24 years

House of Rev. W. Greenslade, 56 Lawrence Street, Mornington

2084

4 February 1916

W. Greenslade

No	54
Date of Notice	4 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Bertram Murison	Ernestina Wilhelmina Cargill
	💍 1916/10953
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Master Mariner
Age	49	48
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	24 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. W. Greenslade, 56 Lawrence Street, Mornington
Folio	2084
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1916
Officiating Minister	W. Greenslade

5 February 1916

Andrew John Cassells
Elizabeth Johnston

Andrew John Cassells
Elizabeth Johnston
💍 1916/4368

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

26
22

Dunedin
Oamaru

26 years
10 years

Presbyterian Manse, Reed Street, Oamaru

1247

5 February 1916

S. F. Hunter

No	55
Date of Notice	5 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew John Cassells	Elizabeth Johnston
	💍 1916/4368
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Oamaru
Length of Residence	26 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	1247
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1916
Officiating Minister	S. F. Hunter

7 February 1916

Robin Hill Jack
Marion Maud Knowles

Robin Hill Jack
Marion Maud Knowles
💍 1916/4752

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep farmer

33
34

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
32 years

House of Mrs. K. M. Hill Jack, Highgate, Roslyn

2085

7 February 1916

W. G. Dixon

No	56
Date of Notice	7 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robin Hill Jack	Marion Maud Knowles
	💍 1916/4752
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep farmer
Age	33	34
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	32 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. K. M. Hill Jack, Highgate, Roslyn
Folio	2085
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1916
Officiating Minister	W. G. Dixon

7 February 1916

David Douglas Wallace Martin
Marguerite Vera McKechnie

David Douglas Wallace Martin
Marguerite Vera McKechnie
💍 1916/4753

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner

24
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
23 years

All Saints Church, Dunedin

2086

7 February 1916

A. R. Fitchett

No	57
Date of Notice	7 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Douglas Wallace Martin	Marguerite Vera McKechnie
	💍 1916/4753
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	23 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Dunedin
Folio	2086
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1916
Officiating Minister	A. R. Fitchett

9 February 1916

James Roughan
Margaret Louisa Murdoch

James Roughan
Margaret Louisa Murdoch
💍 1916/4754

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

37
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

St. Patrick's Basilica, South Dunedin

2087

9 February 1916

P. O'Leary

No	58
Date of Notice	9 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Roughan	Margaret Louisa Murdoch
	💍 1916/4754
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	37	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Basilica, South Dunedin
Folio	2087
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1916
Officiating Minister	P. O'Leary

9 February 1916

John Edwin Coomer
Emily Louisa Beatty

John Edwin Coomer
Emily Louisa Beatty
💍 1916/456

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

27
26

Gore
Dunedin

9 years
6 months

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

1046

9 February 1916

H. Maxwell

No	59
Date of Notice	9 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edwin Coomer	Emily Louisa Beatty
	💍 1916/456
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Gore	Dunedin
Length of Residence	9 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	1046
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1916
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

10 February 1916

Henry Lawrence Cook
Hilda Dorothy Sutherland

Henry Lawrence Cook
Hilda Dorothy Sutherland
💍 1916/4755

Bachelor
Spinster

Barrister

25
27

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
5 years

St. Andrews Church, Dunedin

2088

10 February 1916

R. Waddell

No	60
Date of Notice	10 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Lawrence Cook	Hilda Dorothy Sutherland
	💍 1916/4755
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barrister
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Dunedin
Folio	2088
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1916
Officiating Minister	R. Waddell

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).