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 2418

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar Alex. Montgomery

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

15 January 1916

Leslie Gale King
Janet Crawford Millin

Leslie Eli King
Janet Crawford Millin
💍 1916/4049

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Household duties

31
22

Washdyke
Timaru

31 years
22 years

Congregational Church, Timaru

1301

15 January 1916

Rev. I. Sarginson, Congregational

No	6
Date of Notice	15 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Gale King	Janet Crawford Millin
BDM Match (91%)	Leslie Eli King	Janet Crawford Millin
	💍 1916/4049
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Household duties
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Washdyke	Timaru
Length of Residence	31 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Timaru
Folio	1301
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Sarginson, Congregational

15 January 1916

Archibald Hutchison McMillan
Agnes Jane Edwards

Archibald Hutchison McMillan
Agnes Jane Edwards
💍 1916/4107

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
24

Southburn
Otipua

25 years
4 years

St Mary's English Church, Timaru

1302

16 January 1916

Rev. W. McWatters, Anglican

No	7
Date of Notice	15 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Hutchison McMillan	Agnes Jane Edwards
	💍 1916/4107
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Southburn	Otipua
Length of Residence	25 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's English Church, Timaru
Folio	1302
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. McWatters, Anglican

17 January 1916

Ronald Ellis Brown
Mona Jessie Grossan

Ronald Ellis Brown
Mona Jessie Crossan
💍 1916/4118

Bachelor
Spinster

Dental Mechanic
Milliner

23
25

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
3 days

Trinity Presbyterian Church, Timaru

1303

17 January 1916

Rev. G. King, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	17 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Ellis Brown	Mona Jessie Grossan
BDM Match (97%)	Ronald Ellis Brown	Mona Jessie Crossan
	💍 1916/4118
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dental Mechanic	Milliner
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Trinity Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	1303
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. King, Presbyterian

19 January 1916

Arthur Leslie Bennett
Dorothea Mabel Pearce

Arthur Leslie Bennett
Dorothea Mabel Pearce
💍 1916/4048

Widower
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic duties

30
27

Washdyke
Washdyke

1 day
1 day

St Mary's English Church, Timaru

1300

19 January 1916

Archdeacon Jacob, Anglican

No	9
Date of Notice	19 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Leslie Bennett	Dorothea Mabel Pearce
	💍 1916/4048
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic duties
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Washdyke	Washdyke
Length of Residence	1 day	1 day
Marriage Place	St Mary's English Church, Timaru
Folio	1300
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon Jacob, Anglican

22 January 1916

George Alfred Wall
Eliza Catherine Rees

George Alfred Wall
Eliza Catherine Aker
💍 1916/4047

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic duties

24
22

Timaru
Timaru

24 years
22 years

Dwellinghouse of W. H. Wall, Edward St, Timaru

1209

22 January 1916

Rev. I. Sarginson, Congregational

No	10
Date of Notice	22 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Alfred Wall	Eliza Catherine Rees
BDM Match (93%)	George Alfred Wall	Eliza Catherine Aker
	💍 1916/4047
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	24 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of W. H. Wall, Edward St, Timaru
Folio	1209
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Sarginson, Congregational

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).