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 2767

District of Otepopo Quarter ending 30 June 1916 Registrar E. M. Griffith

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

10 April 1916

Ernest Nicholson
Myrtle Annie Orr

Ernest Nicholson
Myrtle Annie Orr
💍 1916/606

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

29
25

Waimate
Maheno

29 years
25 years

Residence of Mr John Orr Maheno

4345

10 April 1916

Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Maheno, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	10 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Nicholson	Myrtle Annie Orr
	💍 1916/606
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Maheno
Length of Residence	29 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr John Orr Maheno
Folio	4345
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Maheno, Presbyterian

19 April 1916

Alexander Liddell
Grace Saville

Alexander Riddell
Grace Saville
💍 1916/604

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

34
26

Peebles
Maheno

34 years
26 years

Presbyterian Church Maheno

4344

19 April 1916

Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Maheno, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	19 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Liddell	Grace Saville
BDM Match (97%)	Alexander Riddell	Grace Saville
	💍 1916/604
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Peebles	Maheno
Length of Residence	34 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Maheno
Folio	4344
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Maheno, Presbyterian

22 April 1916

William Young Reid
Janet Paterson

William Young Reid
Janet Paterson
💍 1916/607

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

42
35

Herbert
Herbert

9 years
35 years

Residence of Mrs G Paterson Herbert

4346

22 April 1916

Rev. P. C. Rennie, Herbert, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	22 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Young Reid	Janet Paterson
	💍 1916/607
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	42	35
Dwelling Place	Herbert	Herbert
Length of Residence	9 years	35 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs G Paterson Herbert
Folio	4346
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. C. Rennie, Herbert, Presbyterian

3 June 1916

Archibald James Carmichael
Louisa Isabel Semblick

Archibald James Carmichael
Louisa Mabel Timblick
💍 1916/603

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
21

Maheno
Maheno

1 week
3 weeks

Residence of Mr John Semblick Maheno

4343

3 June 1916

Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Maheno, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	3 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald James Carmichael	Louisa Isabel Semblick
BDM Match (91%)	Archibald James Carmichael	Louisa Mabel Timblick
	💍 1916/603
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Maheno	Maheno
Length of Residence	1 week	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr John Semblick Maheno
Folio	4343
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Maheno, Presbyterian

12 June 1916

David Gordon Whittaker
Janet Frances Abernethy

David Gordon Whitteker
Janet Frances McLennan
💍 1916/601

Bachelor
Spinster

Enginedriver
Domestic

32
27

Maheno
Maheno

10 years

Residence of Mrs Dandy Boarding House Keeper Maheno

4341

12 June 1916

Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Maheno, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	12 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Gordon Whittaker	Janet Frances Abernethy
BDM Match (80%)	David Gordon Whitteker	Janet Frances McLennan
	💍 1916/601
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Enginedriver	Domestic
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Maheno	Maheno
Length of Residence	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Dandy Boarding House Keeper Maheno
Folio	4341
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Maheno, Presbyterian

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).