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 2395

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 December 1917 Registrar M. Wardell

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

352

10 October 1917

Matthew Norman Johnson
Olive Beatrice Anderson

Matthew Norman Johnson
Olive Beatrice Anderson
💍 1917/5341

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

31
31

St. Kilda
St. Kilda

31 years
16 years

House of A. Anderson, 83 Bay View Road, St. Kilda

4921

10 October 1917

R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

No	352
Date of Notice	10 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Norman Johnson	Olive Beatrice Anderson
	💍 1917/5341
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	St. Kilda	St. Kilda
Length of Residence	31 years	16 years
Marriage Place	House of A. Anderson, 83 Bay View Road, St. Kilda
Folio	4921
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1917
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

353

11 October 1917

Thomas James Downes
Grace Dodds

Thomas James Downes
Grace Dodds
💍 1917/5342

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

45
30

Dunedin
Dunedin

45 years
25 years

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

4922

11 October 1917

H. Maxwell, Acting Registrar

No	353
Date of Notice	11 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas James Downes	Grace Dodds
	💍 1917/5342
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	45	30
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	45 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	4922
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1917
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell, Acting Registrar

354

13 October 1917

Alexander Cathcart Wallace Murdoch
Mary Anne Rees Williams

Alexander Cathcart Wallace Murdoch
Mary Anne Reese Williams
💍 1917/5343

Bachelor
Spinster

Post master

52
28

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 days
6 days

St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin

4923

13 October 1917

J. Coffey, Roman Catholic

No	354
Date of Notice	13 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Cathcart Wallace Murdoch	Mary Anne Rees Williams
BDM Match (98%)	Alexander Cathcart Wallace Murdoch	Mary Anne Reese Williams
	💍 1917/5343
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Post master
Age	52	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 days	6 days
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	4923
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1917
Officiating Minister	J. Coffey, Roman Catholic

355

15 October 1917

Ralston Fairlie Sim
Catherine Curry

Ralston Fairlie Sim
Catherine Curry
💍 1917/5344

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

28
26

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 week
1 week

St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin

4924

15 October 1917

J. Coffey, Roman Catholic

No	355
Date of Notice	15 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ralston Fairlie Sim	Catherine Curry
	💍 1917/5344
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	4924
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1917
Officiating Minister	J. Coffey, Roman Catholic

356

15 October 1917

Edwin Stokes Dalziel
Mary Ann Watt

Edwin Stokes Dalziel
Mary Ann Watt
💍 1917/5345

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

27
34

Dunedin
Dunedin

26 years
8 years

House of Rev. S.G. Griffith, 47 Littlebourne Road, Roslyn

4925

15 October 1917

S.G. Griffith, Church of Christ

No	356
Date of Notice	15 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Stokes Dalziel	Mary Ann Watt
	💍 1917/5345
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	27	34
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	26 years	8 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. S.G. Griffith, 47 Littlebourne Road, Roslyn
Folio	4925
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1917
Officiating Minister	S.G. Griffith, Church of Christ

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).