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 2649

District of East Taieri Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar W R Howard

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

01 February 1916

John Daniel Hunter Walker
Ivy Myrtle Freeman

John Daniel Hunter Walker
Ivy Myrtle Freeman
💍 1916/4119

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

26
20

Mosgiel
Mosgiel

4 years
20 years

Manse North Taieri

1321

01 February 1916

Rev. Jas Lymburn

No	1
Date of Notice	01 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Daniel Hunter Walker	Ivy Myrtle Freeman
	💍 1916/4119
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel	Mosgiel
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Manse North Taieri
Folio	1321
Consent
Date of Certificate	01 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas Lymburn

02 February 1916

Walter Huggins
Margaret Brownhill Ferguson Christie

Walter Huggins
Margaret Brownhill Ferguson Christie
💍 1916/4120

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Weaver

22
23

Mosgiel
Mosgiel

7 years
23 years

Baptist Church Mosgiel

1322

02 February 1916

Rev T H Eccersall

No	2
Date of Notice	02 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Huggins	Margaret Brownhill Ferguson Christie
	💍 1916/4120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Weaver
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel	Mosgiel
Length of Residence	7 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Mosgiel
Folio	1322
Consent
Date of Certificate	02 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev T H Eccersall

04 February 1916

James Reid
Elizabeth Adam

James Reid
Elizabeth Adam
💍 1916/4121

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Farmer

35
32

Mosgiel
Mosgiel

3 Days
3 Days

Registration Office

1323

04 February 1916

Registrar of Marriages East Taieri J J Dickson Deputy

No	3
Date of Notice	04 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Reid	Elizabeth Adam
	💍 1916/4121
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Farmer
Age	35	32
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel	Mosgiel
Length of Residence	3 Days	3 Days
Marriage Place	Registration Office
Folio	1323
Consent
Date of Certificate	04 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages East Taieri J J Dickson Deputy

08 February 1916

John Arthur Crawford
Sarah Mary McDonald

John Arthur Crawford
Sarah Mary McDonald
💍 1916/4117

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter
Domestic Duties

23
20

Brighton
Brighton

Six Months
Six years

Presbyterian Church Brighton

1320

John McDonald Father

08 February 1916

Rev John Kilpatrick

No	4
Date of Notice	08 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Arthur Crawford	Sarah Mary McDonald
	💍 1916/4117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter	Domestic Duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Brighton	Brighton
Length of Residence	Six Months	Six years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Brighton
Folio	1320
Consent	John McDonald Father
Date of Certificate	08 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev John Kilpatrick

23 February 1916

Alexander Cook
Elizabeth Renton Wedderspoon

Alexander Cook
Elizabeth Renton Wedderspoon
💍 1916/4116

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
household duties

26
22

Mosgiel
Mosgiel

3 days
22 years

Residence Andrew Wedderspoon Mosgiel

1319

23 February 1916

Rev A W Kinmont

No	5
Date of Notice	23 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Cook	Elizabeth Renton Wedderspoon
	💍 1916/4116
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	household duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel	Mosgiel
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence Andrew Wedderspoon Mosgiel
Folio	1319
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev A W Kinmont

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).