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 2235

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 September 1917 Registrar B. Fulton

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

10 August 1917

William Eichbaum
Constance Barbara Ensor

William Eichbaum
Constance Barbara Ensor
💍 1918/1911

Widower (25 June 1912)
Spinster

Accountant

56
27

Timaru
Winchester

27 years
27 years

Church of England, Winchester

not sold see No 11 Temuka

10 August 1917

Rev A H Norris, Anglican

No	68
Date of Notice	10 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Eichbaum	Constance Barbara Ensor
	💍 1918/1911
Condition	Widower (25 June 1912)	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	56	27
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Winchester
Length of Residence	27 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Winchester
Folio	not sold see No 11 Temuka
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev A H Norris, Anglican

15 August 1917

Peter Ivan Herdman
Olive Gould

Peter Ivan Herdman
Olive Gould
💍 1917/5219

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

20
21

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
21 years

Trinity Church, Timaru

4698

Peter Davidson Herdman, Father

15 August 1917

Rev T Stinson, Presbyterian

No	69
Date of Notice	15 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Ivan Herdman	Olive Gould
	💍 1917/5219
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Church, Timaru
Folio	4698
Consent	Peter Davidson Herdman, Father
Date of Certificate	15 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev T Stinson, Presbyterian

18 August 1917

John William Wright
Margaret Mann

John William Wright
Margaret Mann
💍 1917/5220

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

24
28

Timaru
Timaru

2 days
3 days

St Mary's Church, Timaru

4699

18 August 1917

Rev J. H. Rogers, Anglican

No	70
Date of Notice	18 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Wright	Margaret Mann
	💍 1917/5220
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	2 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Timaru
Folio	4699
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev J. H. Rogers, Anglican

20 August 1917

Terrence Joseph O'Donnell
Bridget Morris

Terence Joseph O'Donnell
Bridget Morris
💍 1917/5221

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman

44
30

Timaru
Timaru

8 years
4 years

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

4700

20 August 1917

Rev M. Murphy, Roman Catholic

No	71
Date of Notice	20 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Terrence Joseph O'Donnell	Bridget Morris
BDM Match (98%)	Terence Joseph O'Donnell	Bridget Morris
	💍 1917/5221
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman
Age	44	30
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	8 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	4700
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev M. Murphy, Roman Catholic

1 September 1917

Thomas Foden
Mary Ann Galbraith

Thomas Foden
Mary Ann Galbraith
💍 1917/5222

Widower (15 November 1915)
Widow (20 November 1915)

Builder

66
55

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
3 days

Residence of Mrs Brehaut, Butler Street, Timaru

4701

1 September 1917

Rev T A Joughin, Methodist

No	72
Date of Notice	1 September 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Foden	Mary Ann Galbraith
	💍 1917/5222
Condition	Widower (15 November 1915)	Widow (20 November 1915)
Profession	Builder
Age	66	55
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Brehaut, Butler Street, Timaru
Folio	4701
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev T A Joughin, Methodist

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).