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 2426

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 June 1916 Registrar R. Orwin

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

14 April 1916

Peter Cook
Eliza Madeline Baxter

Peter Cook
Eliza Madeline Baxter
💍 1916/6788

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Tailoress

24
26

Timaru
Timaru

3 years
2 years

Chalmers Church, Timaru

4257

14 April 1916

Rev. G. R. Harries, Presbyterian

No	44
Date of Notice	14 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Cook	Eliza Madeline Baxter
	💍 1916/6788
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Tailoress
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Chalmers Church, Timaru
Folio	4257
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. R. Harries, Presbyterian

19 April 1916

Oliver Rowntree Smith
Millicent Annie Anniss

Oliver Rowntree Smith
Millicent Annie Anniss
💍 1916/6786

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
Domestic duties

24
29

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
6 days

Dwellinghouse of John Anniss, 12 Campbell St, Timaru

4255

19 April 1916

Rev. G. R. Harries, Presbyterian

No	45
Date of Notice	19 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oliver Rowntree Smith	Millicent Annie Anniss
	💍 1916/6786
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	Domestic duties
Age	24	29
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of John Anniss, 12 Campbell St, Timaru
Folio	4255
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. R. Harries, Presbyterian

19 April 1916

William John Coulter
Mary Eleanor McKenzie

William John Coulter
Eleanor Mary McKenzie
💍 1916/6787

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
28

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
10 days

Manse of Rev. G. R. Harries, Timaru

4256

19 April 1916

Rev. G. R. Harries, Presbyterian

No	46
Date of Notice	19 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Coulter	Mary Eleanor McKenzie
BDM Match (76%)	William John Coulter	Eleanor Mary McKenzie
	💍 1916/6787
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Manse of Rev. G. R. Harries, Timaru
Folio	4256
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. R. Harries, Presbyterian

25 April 1916

John McLennan
Janet Horrie

John McLennan
Janet Gorrie
💍 1916/6789

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Household Help

48
34

Timaru
Timaru

5 days
12 years

Dwellinghouse of Mrs Bennett, North St, Timaru

4258

25 April 1916

Rev. G. R. Harries, Presbyterian

No	47
Date of Notice	25 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McLennan	Janet Horrie
BDM Match (96%)	John McLennan	Janet Gorrie
	💍 1916/6789
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Household Help
Age	48	34
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	5 days	12 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Mrs Bennett, North St, Timaru
Folio	4258
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. R. Harries, Presbyterian

26 April 1916

James Herbert Osborne
Isabella Sinclair

James Herbert Osborne
Isabella Sinclair
💍 1916/6785

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic duties

33
39

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
6 weeks

Dwellinghouse of Mrs Charters, 160 Craigie St, Timaru

4254

26 April 1916

Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

No	48
Date of Notice	26 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Herbert Osborne	Isabella Sinclair
	💍 1916/6785
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic duties
Age	33	39
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Mrs Charters, 160 Craigie St, Timaru
Folio	4254
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

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).