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 2545

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

23 February 1916

Samuel Thomas Cole
Bridget O'Leary

Samuel Thomas Cole
Bridget O'Leary
💍 1916/4794

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

22 years
24 years

In the house of Mrs. P.G. Cole, 27 Clarendon Street Dunedin.

2106

23 February 1916

Wm. Corcoran.

No	82
Date of Notice	23 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Thomas Cole	Bridget O'Leary
	💍 1916/4794
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	22 years	24 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs. P.G. Cole, 27 Clarendon Street Dunedin.
Folio	2106
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Wm. Corcoran.

23 February 1916

John William Sheppard
Charlotte Clearwater

John William Sheppard
Charlotte Clearwater
💍 1916/4796

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

39
26

Portobello
Portobello

39 years
26 years

Waratah Tea-Rooms, George Street Dunedin.

2108

23 February 1916

R. E. Davies.

No	83
Date of Notice	23 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Sheppard	Charlotte Clearwater
	💍 1916/4796
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	39	26
Dwelling Place	Portobello	Portobello
Length of Residence	39 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Waratah Tea-Rooms, George Street Dunedin.
Folio	2108
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1916
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies.

24 February 1916

Robert Clark
Helen Mary Hunter

Robert Clark
Helen Mary Hunter
💍 1916/4797

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Teacher

39
42

Hoopers Inlet
Hoopers Inlet

39 years
42 years

St. Mary's Church, Mornington.

2109

24 February 1916

J. C. Small.

No	84
Date of Notice	24 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Clark	Helen Mary Hunter
	💍 1916/4797
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Teacher
Age	39	42
Dwelling Place	Hoopers Inlet	Hoopers Inlet
Length of Residence	39 years	42 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Mornington.
Folio	2109
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1916
Officiating Minister	J. C. Small.

24 February 1916

Robert George Cotton
Elfrida Mary Knight

Robert George Cotton
Elfrida Mary Knight
💍 1916/4774

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Teacher

39
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 days
4 days

St. Matthews Church, Dunedin.

2110

24 February 1916

A. C. H. Button.

No	85
Date of Notice	24 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert George Cotton	Elfrida Mary Knight
	💍 1916/4774
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Teacher
Age	39	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Dunedin.
Folio	2110
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1916
Officiating Minister	A. C. H. Button.

24 February 1916

James Joseph Nolan
Sophia Scott

James Joseph Nolan
Sophia Scott
💍 1916/460

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

40
35

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 days
1 month

Registrar's Office, Dunedin.

1050

24 February 1916

H. Maxwell.

No	86
Date of Notice	24 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Joseph Nolan	Sophia Scott
	💍 1916/460
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	40	35
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin.
Folio	1050
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1916
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell.

25 February 1916

Charles Alexander Caigon
Margaret Campbell Skinner

Charles Alexander Caigon
Margaret Campbell Skinner
💍 1916/4775

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster

27
26

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
10 years

St. Joseph's Cathedral Vestry.

2111

25 February 1916

Jas. Coffey.

No	87
Date of Notice	25 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Alexander Caigon	Margaret Campbell Skinner
	💍 1916/4775
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Cathedral Vestry.
Folio	2111
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Jas. Coffey.

25 February 1916

Charles Payne
Olive Muirhead

Claude Payne
Olive Muirhead
💍 1916/4776

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

7 years
24 years

House of Mrs. M. G. Muirhead, 76 Edwin Street, Caversham.

2112

25 February 1916

R. Fairmaid.

No	88
Date of Notice	25 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Payne	Olive Muirhead
BDM Match (85%)	Claude Payne	Olive Muirhead
	💍 1916/4776
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 years	24 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. M. G. Muirhead, 76 Edwin Street, Caversham.
Folio	2112
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 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).