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 2586

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 1916 Registrar Henry Maxwell

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

331

5 July 1916

George Bond Couch
Sarah Ann Scott

George Bond Couch
Sarah Ann Scott
💍 1916/7019

Bachelor
Spinster

School teacher
Dressmaker

22
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

8 months
22 years

House of A. Scott, 49 Reid Road, South Dunedin.

4546

5 July 1916

R. Raine.

No	331
Date of Notice	5 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Bond Couch	Sarah Ann Scott
	💍 1916/7019
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School teacher	Dressmaker
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	8 months	22 years
Marriage Place	House of A. Scott, 49 Reid Road, South Dunedin.
Folio	4546
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1916
Officiating Minister	R. Raine.

332

5 July 1916

Henry McLean.
Violet Annie Methers

Henry McLean
Violet Annie Methers
💍 1916/7021

Widower
Spinster

Carter

27
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

27 years
3 days

Knox Church Vestry, Dunedin.

4547

5 July 1916

R.E. Davies.

No	332
Date of Notice	5 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry McLean.	Violet Annie Methers
BDM Match (96%)	Henry McLean	Violet Annie Methers
	💍 1916/7021
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	27 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Knox Church Vestry, Dunedin.
Folio	4547
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1916
Officiating Minister	R.E. Davies.

333

5 July 1916

Cecil William Small.
Eva Janet Randle.

Cecil William Small
Eva Janet Randle
💍 1916/7022

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

31
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
23 years

Presbyterian Church, Mornington.

4548

5 July 1916

W. Trotter.

No	333
Date of Notice	5 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil William Small.	Eva Janet Randle.
BDM Match (95%)	Cecil William Small	Eva Janet Randle
	💍 1916/7022
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Mornington.
Folio	4548
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1916
Officiating Minister	W. Trotter.

334

5 July 1916

Joseph Edwin Frost.
Harriet Louisa Kirkby.

Joseph Edwin Ffrost
Harriet Louisa Kirkby
💍 1916/1409

Divorced 25 May, 1912
Spinster

Journalist

45
39

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
38 years

House of H. McLauchlan, 5 Main South Road, Caversham

6350

5 July 1916

S.G. Griffith.

No	334
Date of Notice	5 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Edwin Frost.	Harriet Louisa Kirkby.
BDM Match (93%)	Joseph Edwin Ffrost	Harriet Louisa Kirkby
	💍 1916/1409
Condition	Divorced 25 May, 1912	Spinster
Profession	Journalist
Age	45	39
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	38 years
Marriage Place	House of H. McLauchlan, 5 Main South Road, Caversham
Folio	6350
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1916
Officiating Minister	S.G. Griffith.

335

5 July 1916

Alexander Fordyce.
Nellie Maud Smith.

Alexander Fordyce
Nellie Maud Smith
💍 1916/7023

Bachelor
Divorced 23 Oct, 1909.

Compositor

43
45

Dunedin
Dunedin

43 years
45 years

Registrar's Office, Dunedin.

4549

5 July 1916

H. Maxwell.

No	335
Date of Notice	5 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Fordyce.	Nellie Maud Smith.
BDM Match (94%)	Alexander Fordyce	Nellie Maud Smith
	💍 1916/7023
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced 23 Oct, 1909.
Profession	Compositor
Age	43	45
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	43 years	45 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin.
Folio	4549
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1916
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell.

336

5 July 1916

Cornelius Machin Moss.
Margaret Caithness.

Cornelius Machin Moss
Margaret Caithness
💍 1916/7024

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

34
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
5 weeks

Presbyterian Manse, 33 Young Street, St. Kilda.

4550

5 July 1916

R. Fairmaid.

No	336
Date of Notice	5 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cornelius Machin Moss.	Margaret Caithness.
BDM Match (95%)	Cornelius Machin Moss	Margaret Caithness
	💍 1916/7024
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, 33 Young Street, St. Kilda.
Folio	4550
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1916
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid.

337

5 July 1916

Adam Williamson.
Jessie Ramsay Swadel.

Adam Williamson
Jessie Ramsay Swadel
💍 1916/7032

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

30
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 weeks
3 months

Registrar's Office, Dunedin.

4551

5 July 1916

H. Maxwell.

No	337
Date of Notice	5 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adam Williamson.	Jessie Ramsay Swadel.
BDM Match (95%)	Adam Williamson	Jessie Ramsay Swadel
	💍 1916/7032
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 weeks	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin.
Folio	4551
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1916
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell.

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).