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 2537

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

21 January 1916

John Law
Jessie Mary O'Shea

John Law
Jessie Mary O'Shea
💍 1916/4737

Widower
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

72
37

Dunedin
Mornington

1 week
6 mos.

House of Mr. J. O'Shea, 116 Eglinton Road, Mornington

2069

21 January 1916

R. E. Davies

No	29
Date of Notice	21 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Law	Jessie Mary O'Shea
	💍 1916/4737
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	72	37
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Mornington
Length of Residence	1 week	6 mos.
Marriage Place	House of Mr. J. O'Shea, 116 Eglinton Road, Mornington
Folio	2069
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1916
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies

22 January 1916

Harry Francis Richards
Mabel Howard

Harry Francis Richards
Mabel Howard
💍 1916/450

Bachelor
Widow

Chef

39
27

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

1041

22 January 1916

H. Maxwell

No	30
Date of Notice	22 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Francis Richards	Mabel Howard
	💍 1916/450
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Chef
Age	39	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	1041
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1916
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

22 January 1916

William Alexander Baird
Vida Helen Henderson

William Alexander Baird
Vida Ellen Henderson
💍 1916/4738

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 days
14 days

Waratah Tea Rooms, Dunedin

2070

22 January 1916

R. Fairmaid

No	31
Date of Notice	22 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Baird	Vida Helen Henderson
BDM Match (95%)	William Alexander Baird	Vida Ellen Henderson
	💍 1916/4738
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Waratah Tea Rooms, Dunedin
Folio	2070
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1916
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

24 January 1916

Horace Granville Vows Bishop
Helen Douglas Scoullar

Horace Granville Vows Bishop
Helen Douglas Scoullar
💍 1916/447

Bachelor
Divorced

Baker

39
39

Dunedin
Dunedin

8 mos.
30 years

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

1033

22 January 1916

H. Maxwell

No	32
Date of Notice	24 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Granville Vows Bishop	Helen Douglas Scoullar
	💍 1916/447
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Baker
Age	39	39
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	8 mos.	30 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	1033
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1916
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

24 January 1916

David Livingstone Sinclair
Edith Amelia Bennett

David Livingstone Sinclair
Edith Amelia Bennett
💍 1916/4739

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner

27
28

Taihape
Dunedin

8 mos.
27 years

House of Mr. F. Bennett, 10 Union St., Dunedin

2071

24 January 1916

W. Saunders

No	33
Date of Notice	24 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Livingstone Sinclair	Edith Amelia Bennett
	💍 1916/4739
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Dunedin
Length of Residence	8 mos.	27 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. F. Bennett, 10 Union St., Dunedin
Folio	2071
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1916
Officiating Minister	W. Saunders

24 January 1916

Peter Bell
Jane Linster Passmore

Peter Bell
Jane Linster Passmore
💍 1916/4740

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Dressmaker

24
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
21 years

South Dunedin Presbyterian Church

2072

24 January 1916

R. Fairmaid

No	34
Date of Notice	24 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Bell	Jane Linster Passmore
	💍 1916/4740
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Dressmaker
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	South Dunedin Presbyterian Church
Folio	2072
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1916
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

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).