Intentions to Marry, 1917 Rangiora to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840474, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1917 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.

1917f contains pages 2197-2786, covering districts from Rangiora to Chatham Islands

Page 2221

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar Leslie G. Bruce

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

4 January 1917

Adam Fraser
Isabella Fraser

Adam Fraser
Isabella Fraser
💍 1917/2150

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

27
21

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
3 days

Chalmers Church Manse Timaru

1313

4 January 1917

Rev. E. R. Harris, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adam Fraser	Isabella Fraser
	💍 1917/2150
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Chalmers Church Manse Timaru
Folio	1313
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. R. Harris, Presbyterian

4 January 1917

Thomas White Strachan
Martha Baird

Thomas White Strachan
Martha Baird
💍 1917/2151

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman New Zealand Railways
Domestic Duties

28
22

Timaru
Timaru

6 years
22 years

Chalmers Church Timaru

1314

4 January 1917

Rev. E. R. Harris, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	4 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas White Strachan	Martha Baird
	💍 1917/2151
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman New Zealand Railways	Domestic Duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	6 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Chalmers Church Timaru
Folio	1314
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. R. Harris, Presbyterian

9 January 1917

John Gawith
Julia Cassidy

John Gawith
Julia Cassidy
💍 1917/2376

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

22
31

Timaru
Timaru

2 years
31 years

Roman Catholic Church Timaru

1590

9 January 1917

Rev. M. A. Murphy, Roman Catholic

No	3
Date of Notice	9 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gawith	Julia Cassidy
	💍 1917/2376
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	31
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	2 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Timaru
Folio	1590
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. A. Murphy, Roman Catholic

20 January 1917

John Munro Scott
Kathleen Frances Buchanan

John Scott
Kathleen Frances Buchanan
💍 1917/2152

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
Domestic Duties

22
23

Waimate
Timaru

6 months
Life

St Mary's Church Anglican Church, Timaru

1315

20 January 1917

Rev. J. H. Rogers, Anglican

No	4
Date of Notice	20 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Munro Scott	Kathleen Frances Buchanan
BDM Match (81%)	John Scott	Kathleen Frances Buchanan
	💍 1917/2152
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Timaru
Length of Residence	6 months	Life
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	1315
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Rogers, Anglican

22 January 1917

Harold Thomas Wrigley
Violet Traill

Harold Thomas Wigley
Violet Traill
💍 1917/2153

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

32
32

Tycho, Timaru
Timaru

6 years
8 months

Anglican Church, Timaru

1316

22 January 1917

Rev. S. Hamilton, Anglican

No	5
Date of Notice	22 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Thomas Wrigley	Violet Traill
BDM Match (98%)	Harold Thomas Wigley	Violet Traill
	💍 1917/2153
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Tycho, Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	6 years	8 months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	1316
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Hamilton, Anglican

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).