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 2749

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar John Henry Carrad

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

3379

5 January 1916

Thomas Grant
Isabella Marshall

Thomas Grant
Isabella Marshall
💍 1916/10143

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Duties

29
29

Papakaio
Enfield

29 years
4 years

Residence of William Marshall, Enfield

1340

5 January 1916

Rev. Henry Clark

No	3379
Date of Notice	5 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Grant	Isabella Marshall
	💍 1916/10143
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Papakaio	Enfield
Length of Residence	29 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Marshall, Enfield
Folio	1340
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Clark

3380

5 January 1916

Herbert Bullock
Isabella Gordon

Herbert Bullock
Isabella Gordon
💍 1916/4359

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxi-Cab Owner
Domestic Duties

61
35

Oamaru
Elderslie

30 years
4 1/2 years

Residence of Mr John Reid, Elderslie

1339

5 January 1916

Rev. Henry Clark

No	3380
Date of Notice	5 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Bullock	Isabella Gordon
	💍 1916/4359
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxi-Cab Owner	Domestic Duties
Age	61	35
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Elderslie
Length of Residence	30 years	4 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr John Reid, Elderslie
Folio	1339
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Clark

3381

7 January 1916

Sydney James Thomas Branson
Annie Millicent Reid

Sydney James Thomas Branson
Annie Millicent Reid
💍 1916/4361

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Keeper
Domestic Duties

35
28

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
3 days

St Luke's Church, Oamaru

1341

7 January 1916

Rev. J. D. Russell

No	3381
Date of Notice	7 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney James Thomas Branson	Annie Millicent Reid
	💍 1916/4361
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Keeper	Domestic Duties
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church, Oamaru
Folio	1341
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Russell

3382

12 January 1916

John Meikle
Ellen Jane Gilliand

John Meikle
Ellen Innes Gilliand
💍 1916/4356

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Duties

25
27

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
6 years

Dwelling house of Mrs John Gilliand, Town Belt, Oamaru

1336

12 January 1916

Rev. S. F. Hunter

No	3382
Date of Notice	12 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Meikle	Ellen Jane Gilliand
BDM Match (93%)	John Meikle	Ellen Innes Gilliand
	💍 1916/4356
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Duties
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mrs John Gilliand, Town Belt, Oamaru
Folio	1336
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. F. Hunter

3383

17 January 1916

Robert James Brooker
Ann McFarland Hunter

Robert James Brooker
Ann McFarland Hunter
💍 1916/4357

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic Duties

35
25

Oamaru
Oamaru

35 years
25 years

Columba Church, Oamaru

1337

17 January 1916

Rev. S. F. Hunter

No	3383
Date of Notice	17 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert James Brooker	Ann McFarland Hunter
	💍 1916/4357
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic Duties
Age	35	25
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	35 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Columba Church, Oamaru
Folio	1337
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. F. Hunter

3384

18 January 1916

William John Hammill
Sarah Ivy McAuley

William John Hammill
Sarah Amy McAuley
💍 1916/4358

Bachelor
Spinster

Spinner
Domestic Duties

23
21

Oamaru
Totara

23 years
6 years

Methodist Parsonage, Eden Street, Oamaru

1338

18 January 1916

Rev. J. A. Lochore

No	3384
Date of Notice	18 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Hammill	Sarah Ivy McAuley
BDM Match (94%)	William John Hammill	Sarah Amy McAuley
	💍 1916/4358
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Spinner	Domestic Duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Totara
Length of Residence	23 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, Eden Street, Oamaru
Folio	1338
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Lochore

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).