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 2905

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1916 Registrar J. G. Petrie

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

6 April 1916

David Ritchie
Kathleen Allen Banks

David Ritchie
Kathleen Allen Davies
💍 1916/10064

David Ritchie
Jessie Helen Brough
💍 1916/4789

Bachelor
Spinster

Club Steward
Domestic

50
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

5 months
11 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay St., Invercargill

4434

6 April 1916

Rev. A. M. Ryburn

No	52
Date of Notice	6 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Ritchie	Kathleen Allen Banks
BDM Match (91%)	David Ritchie	Kathleen Allen Davies
	💍 1916/10064
BDM Match (65%)	David Ritchie	Jessie Helen Brough
	💍 1916/4789
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Club Steward	Domestic
Age	50	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 months	11 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay St., Invercargill
Folio	4434
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Ryburn

7 April 1916

Charles Smith Henderson
Emma Jane Dunwoodie

Charles Smith Henderson
Emma Jane Dunwoodie
💍 1916/10042

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

35
27

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 1/2 years
24 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay St., Invercargill

4435

7 April 1916

Rev. A. M. Ryburn

No	53
Date of Notice	7 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Smith Henderson	Emma Jane Dunwoodie
	💍 1916/10042
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay St., Invercargill
Folio	4435
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Ryburn

10 April 1916

Thomas Forsyth Macdonald
Jessie Nicol Rust

Thomas Forsaith Macdonald
Jessie Nicol Burt
💍 1916/10971

Widower
Spinster

Commission Agent
Domestic

49
36

Invercargill
Dunedin

49 years
36 years

Residence of Alexander Rust, York Place, Dunedin

2199

10 April 1916

Rev. H. E. Davies

No	54
Date of Notice	10 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Forsyth Macdonald	Jessie Nicol Rust
BDM Match (90%)	Thomas Forsaith Macdonald	Jessie Nicol Burt
	💍 1916/10971
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Commission Agent	Domestic
Age	49	36
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Dunedin
Length of Residence	49 years	36 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Alexander Rust, York Place, Dunedin
Folio	2199
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Davies

11 April 1916

Michael William Baldwin
Caroline McDonough

Michael William Baldwin
Caroline McDougall
💍 1916/10045

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Cook

25
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

25 years
21 years

Priests Chapel, Roman Catholic, Tay St., Invercargill

4438

11 April 1916

Very Rev. J. Burke

No	55
Date of Notice	11 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael William Baldwin	Caroline McDonough
BDM Match (86%)	Michael William Baldwin	Caroline McDougall
	💍 1916/10045
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Cook
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	25 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Priests Chapel, Roman Catholic, Tay St., Invercargill
Folio	4438
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. J. Burke

12 April 1916

David Gillespie
Vera Mary Critchfield

David Gillespie
Vera Mary Critchfield
💍 1916/10044

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer
Home duties

30
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

30 years
10 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay St., Invercargill

4437

12 April 1916

Rev. A. M. Ryburn

No	56
Date of Notice	12 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Gillespie	Vera Mary Critchfield
	💍 1916/10044
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer	Home duties
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	30 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay St., Invercargill
Folio	4437
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Ryburn

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).