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 2757

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 September 1916 Registrar J. H. 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

3421

7 July 1916

Albert Whittington
Eliza Jane Luxon

Albert Whittington
Eliza Jane Luxon
💍 1916/1214

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

29
27

Oamaru
Oamaru

1 month
27 years

St Luke's Church, Oamaru

6022

7 July 1916

Rev. J. D. Russell

No	3421
Date of Notice	7 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Whittington	Eliza Jane Luxon
	💍 1916/1214
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	1 month	27 years
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church, Oamaru
Folio	6022
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Russell

3422

8 July 1916

Harry Scott-Orbell
Jane Douglas Gilchrist

Henry Scott Orbell
Jane Douglas Gilchrist
💍 1916/1207

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

46
39

Oamaru
Oamaru

14 years
39 years

Dwellinghouse of J. C. Gilchrist, Waiareka

6016

8 July 1916

Rev. S. F. Hunter

No	3422
Date of Notice	8 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Scott-Orbell	Jane Douglas Gilchrist
BDM Match (92%)	Henry Scott Orbell	Jane Douglas Gilchrist
	💍 1916/1207
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	46	39
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	14 years	39 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of J. C. Gilchrist, Waiareka
Folio	6016
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. F. Hunter

3423

13 July 1916

James Campbell
Grace Johanna Henderson

James Campbell
Grace Johanna Henderson
💍 1916/1225

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic duties

25
26

Weston
Balruddery

25 years
9 years

Dwellinghouse of Thomas William Henderson, Balruddery

6026

13 July 1916

Rev. H. G. Gilbert

No	3423
Date of Notice	13 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Campbell	Grace Johanna Henderson
	💍 1916/1225
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic duties
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Weston	Balruddery
Length of Residence	25 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Thomas William Henderson, Balruddery
Folio	6026
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Gilbert

3424

19 July 1916

Henry George Carr
Ada Marianne Bottle

Henry George Cain
Alice Marrianne Bottle
💍 1916/1236

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
22

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
14 days

Columba Church, Oamaru

6027

19 July 1916

Rev. J. L. Robinson

No	3424
Date of Notice	19 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry George Carr	Ada Marianne Bottle
BDM Match (83%)	Henry George Cain	Alice Marrianne Bottle
	💍 1916/1236
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Columba Church, Oamaru
Folio	6027
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. L. Robinson

3425

11 August 1916

Charles Osbourne Brown
Edith Webb

Charles Osbourne Brown
Edith Webb
💍 1916/1208

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Draper's Saleswoman

33
20

Oamaru
South Oamaru

15 years
20 years

St Paul's Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

6017

James Webb, (father)

11 August 1916

Rev. S. F. Hunter

No	3425
Date of Notice	11 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Osbourne Brown	Edith Webb
	💍 1916/1208
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Draper's Saleswoman
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	South Oamaru
Length of Residence	15 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	6017
Consent	James Webb, (father)
Date of Certificate	11 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. F. Hunter

3426

11 August 1916

William John Foley
Kathleen Prentice

William John Foley
Kathleen Prentice
💍 1916/1130

Widower
Spinster

Printer
Domestic duties

33
24

Oamaru
Oamaru

12 months
7 months

Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru

6028

14 August 1916

Rev. James Foley

No	3426
Date of Notice	11 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Foley	Kathleen Prentice
	💍 1916/1130
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Printer	Domestic duties
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	12 months	7 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru
Folio	6028
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Foley

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).