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 2587

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 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

338

6 July 1916

Thomas Robert Thomson
Jane Elizabeth Sawyer

Thomas Robert Thomson
Jane Elizabeth Sawyer
💍 1916/14138

Bachelor
Spinster

Tinsmith
Mill hand

27
26

Dunedin
Dunedin

27 years
26 years

House of H. Sawyer, 2 Littlebourne Crescent, Roslyn

4552

6 July 1916

C. Watt

No	338
Date of Notice	6 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Robert Thomson	Jane Elizabeth Sawyer
	💍 1916/14138
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tinsmith	Mill hand
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	27 years	26 years
Marriage Place	House of H. Sawyer, 2 Littlebourne Crescent, Roslyn
Folio	4552
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1916
Officiating Minister	C. Watt

339

8 July 1916

Frederick Ballintine Wright
Frances Evelyn Silverlock Grenville Williams

Frederick Ballintine Wright
Frances Evelyn Silverlock Grenville Williams
💍 1916/7049

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

23
19

Dunedin
Dunedin

23 years
10 years

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

4553

Henry Brown Williams (father)

8 July 1916

H. Maxwell

No	339
Date of Notice	8 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Ballintine Wright	Frances Evelyn Silverlock Grenville Williams
	💍 1916/7049
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	23 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	4553
Consent	Henry Brown Williams (father)
Date of Certificate	8 July 1916
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

340

10 July 1916

John Woods
Jamesina Sinclair

John Woods
Jamesina Sinclair
💍 1916/7050

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

32
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

32 years
5 years

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

4554

10 July 1916

H. Maxwell

No	340
Date of Notice	10 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Woods	Jamesina Sinclair
	💍 1916/7050
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	32 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	4554
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1916
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

341

10 July 1916

William John Lory
Amy Diana Stark

William John Lory
Amy Diana Stark
💍 1916/7051

Widower 24 July, 1914
Spinster

Auctioneer

55
37

Dunedin
Dunedin

9 months
20 years

House of A. Douglas, 19 Grenville Terrace, Mornington

4555

10 July 1916

John Davie

No	341
Date of Notice	10 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Lory	Amy Diana Stark
	💍 1916/7051
Condition	Widower 24 July, 1914	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer
Age	55	37
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	9 months	20 years
Marriage Place	House of A. Douglas, 19 Grenville Terrace, Mornington
Folio	4555
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1916
Officiating Minister	John Davie

342

10 July 1916

William Cecil Davey
Alice Maude Mary Nicholls

William Cecil Davey
Alice Maude Mary Nicholls
💍 1916/7052

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Machinist

31
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

11 years
23 years

All Saints Church, Dunedin

4556

10 July 1916

A. R. Fitchett

No	342
Date of Notice	10 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cecil Davey	Alice Maude Mary Nicholls
	💍 1916/7052
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Machinist
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	11 years	23 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Dunedin
Folio	4556
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1916
Officiating Minister	A. R. Fitchett

343

10 July 1916

Frederick Tom Michaelis
Janet Hamilton

Frederick Tom Michaelis
Janet Hamilton
💍 1916/7053

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

35
39

Dunedin
Dunedin

35 years
8 years

House of Rev. J. Dickie, Woodhaugh, Maori Hill

4557

10 July 1916

J. Dickie

No	343
Date of Notice	10 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Tom Michaelis	Janet Hamilton
	💍 1916/7053
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	35	39
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	35 years	8 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. J. Dickie, Woodhaugh, Maori Hill
Folio	4557
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1916
Officiating Minister	J. Dickie

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).