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 2540

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 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

1 February 1916

Rolland Lumsden Smith
Catherine Millichamp Wilson

Rolland Lumsden Smith
Catherine Millichamp Wilson
💍 1916/4770

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

Waratah Tea-Rooms, George Street, Dunedin.

2081

Walter Millichamp Wilson Father.

1 February 1916

R. E. Davies.

No	48
Date of Notice	1 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rolland Lumsden Smith	Catherine Millichamp Wilson
	💍 1916/4770
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Waratah Tea-Rooms, George Street, Dunedin.
Folio	2081
Consent	Walter Millichamp Wilson Father.
Date of Certificate	1 February 1916
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies.

2 February 1916

William John Vincent
Margaret Todd Simpson

William John Vincent
Margaret Todd Simpson
💍 1916/453

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Stewardess

38
42

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
13 years

Registrar's Office, Dunedin.

1044

2 February 1916

H. Maxwell.

No	49
Date of Notice	2 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Vincent	Margaret Todd Simpson
	💍 1916/453
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Stewardess
Age	38	42
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	13 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin.
Folio	1044
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1916
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell.

2 February 1916

David Albert Cumming Lilburne
Grace Blair Dewar

David Albert Cumming Lilburne
Gracie Blair Dewar
💍 1916/3673

Bachelor
Spinster

Watchmaker
Milliner

23
23

Wanganui
Dunedin

3 months
14 years

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Wanganui.

770

2 February 1916

D. Calder.

No	50
Date of Notice	2 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Albert Cumming Lilburne	Grace Blair Dewar
BDM Match (97%)	David Albert Cumming Lilburne	Gracie Blair Dewar
	💍 1916/3673
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker	Milliner
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 months	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Wanganui.
Folio	770
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1916
Officiating Minister	D. Calder.

3 February 1916

Herbert Henry Burrow
Violet Esther Jane Carr

Herbert Henry Burrow
Violet Esther Jane Carr
💍 1916/4771

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Tailoress

22
24

St. Kilda
Dunedin

16 years
14 years

St. Paul's Temporary Cathedral, Dunedin.

2082

3 February 1916

E. R. Nevill.

No	51
Date of Notice	3 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Henry Burrow	Violet Esther Jane Carr
	💍 1916/4771
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Tailoress
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	St. Kilda	Dunedin
Length of Residence	16 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Temporary Cathedral, Dunedin.
Folio	2082
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1916
Officiating Minister	E. R. Nevill.

3 February 1916

James Henry Nicholson Gear
Martha Waterston

James Henry Nicholson Gear
Martha Waterston
💍 1916/4772

Bachelor
Spinster

Jeweller

27
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

27 years
13 years

Presbyterian Church, Caversham.

2083

3 February 1916

D. Dutton.

No	52
Date of Notice	3 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Nicholson Gear	Martha Waterston
	💍 1916/4772
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jeweller
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	27 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Caversham.
Folio	2083
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1916
Officiating Minister	D. Dutton.

3 February 1916

Thomas William Sanders
May Agnes Greer

Thomas William Sanders
May Agnes Greer
💍 1916/455

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 weeks
2 months

Registrar's Office, Dunedin.

1045

3 February 1916

H. Maxwell.

No	53
Date of Notice	3 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Sanders	May Agnes Greer
	💍 1916/455
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin.
Folio	1045
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 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).