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 2915

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 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

101

5 July 1916

Henry Ratcliffe Aspinall
Madge Irving Fleming

Henry Ratcliffe Aspinall
Madge Irving Fleming
💍 1916/1180

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk
Domestic

20
19

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 days
19 years

Residence of W. Fowler Fleming, Crinan St, Invercargill

5989

W. Fowler Fleming, Father

5 July 1916

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	101
Date of Notice	5 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Ratcliffe Aspinall	Madge Irving Fleming
	💍 1916/1180
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	Domestic
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 days	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. Fowler Fleming, Crinan St, Invercargill
Folio	5989
Consent	W. Fowler Fleming, Father
Date of Certificate	5 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

102

5 July 1916

Patrick Cahill
Honora Norah Dooley

Patrick Cahill
Honora Norah Dooley
💍 1916/1128

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic

34
36

Invercargill
Invercargill

7 days
2 months

Roman Catholic Church, Enwood, Invercargill

5988

5 July 1916

Very Rev. L. O. Burke

No	102
Date of Notice	5 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Cahill	Honora Norah Dooley
	💍 1916/1128
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic
Age	34	36
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Enwood, Invercargill
Folio	5988
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. L. O. Burke

103

5 July 1916

Ernest John Folley
Hazel Nellie Florence Mackley

Ernest John Folley
Hazel Nellie Florence Mackley
💍 1916/1179

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Dental Attendant

30
29

Invercargill
Invercargill

26 years
16 years

English Church "All Saints" Gladstone, Invercargill

5987

5 July 1916

Rev. G. Fynes-Clinton

No	103
Date of Notice	5 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest John Folley	Hazel Nellie Florence Mackley
	💍 1916/1179
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Dental Attendant
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	26 years	16 years
Marriage Place	English Church "All Saints" Gladstone, Invercargill
Folio	5987
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Fynes-Clinton

104

5 July 1916

Marius Berthold Feil
Ella Barbara McGrath

Marius Berthold Feil
Ella Barbara McCreath
💍 1916/1198

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway employee
Home duties

40
32

Invercargill
Invercargill

11 years
32 years

Residence of Ella B McGrath, 74 Yarwood St, Invercargill

5983

5 July 1916

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	104
Date of Notice	5 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Marius Berthold Feil	Ella Barbara McGrath
BDM Match (95%)	Marius Berthold Feil	Ella Barbara McCreath
	💍 1916/1198
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway employee	Home duties
Age	40	32
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	11 years	32 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Ella B McGrath, 74 Yarwood St, Invercargill
Folio	5983
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

105

11 July 1916

Joseph Fernleigh Stephens
Jane Johnston McCallum

Joseph Fernleigh Stephens
Jane Johnston McCallum
💍 1916/1178

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

23
24

Wrights Bush, Invercargill
Wrights Bush, Invercargill

10 years
24 years

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

5986

11 July 1916

Registrar

No	105
Date of Notice	11 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Fernleigh Stephens	Jane Johnston McCallum
	💍 1916/1178
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Wrights Bush, Invercargill	Wrights Bush, Invercargill
Length of Residence	10 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	5986
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).