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 2897

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar J. G. Peter

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

11 February 1916

Arthur Davis
Catherine Eliza Devenney

Arthur Davis
Catherine Eliza Devenney
💍 1916/4180

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

38
30

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
2 days

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

1410

11 February 1916

Registrar

No	21
Date of Notice	11 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Davis	Catherine Eliza Devenney
	💍 1916/4180
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	2 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	1410
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar

11 February 1916

James Gillanders
Eliza Matilda Wallis

James Gillanders
Eliza Matilda Willis
💍 1916/4181

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster
Domestic

50
51

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Residence of Mrs McBain, Kelvin St, Invercargill

1411

11 February 1916

Rev R. S. Bunker

No	22
Date of Notice	11 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gillanders	Eliza Matilda Wallis
BDM Match (98%)	James Gillanders	Eliza Matilda Willis
	💍 1916/4181
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster	Domestic
Age	50	51
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs McBain, Kelvin St, Invercargill
Folio	1411
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev R. S. Bunker

12 February 1916

John Robert Thyer Stott
Margaret Black

John Robert Thomson Stott
Margaret Black
💍 1916/4182

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

36
32

Woodlands, Invercargill
Longbush, Invercargill

15 years
12 years

Residence of Alexander Black, Longbush, Invercargill

1412

12 February 1916

Rev G. H. Jupp

No	23
Date of Notice	12 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robert Thyer Stott	Margaret Black
BDM Match (90%)	John Robert Thomson Stott	Margaret Black
	💍 1916/4182
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	36	32
Dwelling Place	Woodlands, Invercargill	Longbush, Invercargill
Length of Residence	15 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Alexander Black, Longbush, Invercargill
Folio	1412
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev G. H. Jupp

12 February 1916

Henry Blondell
Hannah Wilson

Henry Blondell
Hannah Wilson
💍 1916/4183

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

39
28

Waimatua, Invercargill
Timpany's Siding, Invercargill

9 years
2 years

Residence of Richard Wilson, Timpany's Siding, Invercargill

1413

12 February 1916

Rev E. Jardine

No	24
Date of Notice	12 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Blondell	Hannah Wilson
	💍 1916/4183
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	39	28
Dwelling Place	Waimatua, Invercargill	Timpany's Siding, Invercargill
Length of Residence	9 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Richard Wilson, Timpany's Siding, Invercargill
Folio	1413
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev E. Jardine

15 February 1916

Joseph McDougall
Grace Dyet

Joseph McDougall
Mary Dyet
💍 1916/4184

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

34
23

West Plains, Invercargill
West Plains, Invercargill

9 years
23 years

Residence of Mrs McDougall, Kelvin St, Invercargill

1414

15 February 1916

Rev R. S. Bunker

No	25
Date of Notice	15 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph McDougall	Grace Dyet
BDM Match (80%)	Joseph McDougall	Mary Dyet
	💍 1916/4184
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	West Plains, Invercargill	West Plains, Invercargill
Length of Residence	9 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs McDougall, Kelvin St, Invercargill
Folio	1414
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev R. S. Bunker

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).