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 2751

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

3391

25 February 1916

Ronald Scott Meldrum
Margaret Ethel Bain

Ronald Scott Meldrum
Margaret Ethel Bain
💍 1916/4367

Bachelor
Spinster

Clothier
Saleswoman

28
22

Oamaru
Oamaru

28 years
22 years

St Paul's Church Oamaru

1346

25 February 1916

Rev. S. F. Hunter

No	3391
Date of Notice	25 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Scott Meldrum	Margaret Ethel Bain
	💍 1916/4367
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clothier	Saleswoman
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	28 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church Oamaru
Folio	1346
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. F. Hunter

3392

29 February 1916

George Alfred Cartwright
Mary Ann McMullen

George Alfred Cartwright
Mary Ann McMullin
💍 1916/4371

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

27
27

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
27 years

St Patrick's Basilica Oamaru

1350

29 February 1916

Rev. D. O'Connell

No	3392
Date of Notice	29 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Alfred Cartwright	Mary Ann McMullen
BDM Match (97%)	George Alfred Cartwright	Mary Ann McMullin
	💍 1916/4371
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Basilica Oamaru
Folio	1350
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. O'Connell

3393

3 March 1916

Angus Welles McLachlan
Agatha Mary McKinney

Angus Weller McLachlan
Agatha Mary McKinney
💍 1916/4369

Bachelor
Spinster

Chef
Waitress

30
29

Oamaru
Oamaru

5 days
5 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages Oamaru

1348

3 March 1916

Deputy Registrar of Marriages

No	3393
Date of Notice	3 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Angus Welles McLachlan	Agatha Mary McKinney
BDM Match (98%)	Angus Weller McLachlan	Agatha Mary McKinney
	💍 1916/4369
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chef	Waitress
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Oamaru
Folio	1348
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar of Marriages

3394

3 March 1916

Herbert Martyn
Bertha Annie Burrows

Herbert Martyn
Bertha Annie Burrows
💍 1916/5456

Leonard Baldwin
Bertha Annie Burrows
💍 1916/6153

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Typiste

25
22

Oamaru
Dunedin

25 years
18 years

St Kilda Methodist Church Dunedin

2823

3 March 1916

Rev. Wm. Greenslade

No	3394
Date of Notice	3 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Martyn	Bertha Annie Burrows
	💍 1916/5456
BDM Match (67%)	Leonard Baldwin	Bertha Annie Burrows
	💍 1916/6153
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Typiste
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Dunedin
Length of Residence	25 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St Kilda Methodist Church Dunedin
Folio	2823
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Greenslade

3395

6 March 1916

James Don Taylor
Jessie Aikenhead

James Don Taylor
Jessie Aikenhead
💍 1916/4370

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Housekeeper

32
36

Kokoamo
Kokoamo

32 years
1 year

Office of the Registrar of Marriages Oamaru

1349

6 March 1916

Registrar of Marriages Oamaru

No	3395
Date of Notice	6 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Don Taylor	Jessie Aikenhead
	💍 1916/4370
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	32	36
Dwelling Place	Kokoamo	Kokoamo
Length of Residence	32 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Oamaru
Folio	1349
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Oamaru

3396

11 March 1916

Henry Alexander Callander
Harriet Augusta Edith Dimick

Henry Alexander Callander
Harriet Agusta Edith Dimick
💍 1916/6979

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Engineer
Saleswoman

23
25

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 years
25 years

Dwelling house of W. A. Dimick Mill Street Oamaru

4482

11 March 1916

Rev. George Howard Lawrence

No	3396
Date of Notice	11 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Alexander Callander	Harriet Augusta Edith Dimick
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Alexander Callander	Harriet Agusta Edith Dimick
	💍 1916/6979
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Engineer	Saleswoman
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of W. A. Dimick Mill Street Oamaru
Folio	4482
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Howard Lawrence

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).