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 2433

District of East Taieri Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar W. R. Howard

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

9 January 1917

Harold John Crawford
Victoria Mary Bateman

Harold John Crawford
Victoria May Bateman
💍 1917/2172

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic duties

19
19

Wingatui
Wingatui

10 years
2 years

Residence of Mrs J. W. Bateman, Wingatui

1335

J. H. Crawford, father; J. W. Bateman, father

9 January 1917

Rev. Matt Hamblett, Anglican

No	1
Date of Notice	9 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold John Crawford	Victoria Mary Bateman
BDM Match (98%)	Harold John Crawford	Victoria May Bateman
	💍 1917/2172
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Wingatui	Wingatui
Length of Residence	10 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs J. W. Bateman, Wingatui
Folio	1335
Consent	J. H. Crawford, father; J. W. Bateman, father
Date of Certificate	9 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Matt Hamblett, Anglican

9 January 1917

Edgar Huie Burn
Ann Jane Allan

Edgar Huie Burn
Ann Jane Allan
💍 1917/2178

Widower
Spinster

School teacher
Household duties

56
50

Mosgiel
Mosgiel

3 days
15 years

Residence of Mrs James Allan, Gordon Road, Mosgiel

1341

9 January 1917

Rev. A. W. Kinmont, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	9 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Huie Burn	Ann Jane Allan
	💍 1917/2178
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	School teacher	Household duties
Age	56	50
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel	Mosgiel
Length of Residence	3 days	15 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs James Allan, Gordon Road, Mosgiel
Folio	1341
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. Kinmont, Presbyterian

12 January 1917

Edward Ashby
Eveline Annie Houston Watts

Edward Ashby
Eveline Annie Houston Watts
💍 1917/2176

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Factory hand

25
23

Millies Crossing, Mosgiel
Mosgiel

20 years
14 years

Baptist Church, Mosgiel

1339

12 January 1917

Rev. T. H. Eccersall, Baptist

No	3
Date of Notice	12 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Ashby	Eveline Annie Houston Watts
	💍 1917/2176
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Factory hand
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Millies Crossing, Mosgiel	Mosgiel
Length of Residence	20 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Mosgiel
Folio	1339
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. H. Eccersall, Baptist

15 January 1917

Herbert George Christie
Barbara Beleski

Herbert George Christie
Barbara Beleski
💍 1917/2177

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway surfaceman
Domestic duties

30
22

Allanton
Allanton

30 years
22 years

Sacred Heart Church, Allanton

1340

15 January 1917

Rev. Father Lynch, Catholic

No	4
Date of Notice	15 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert George Christie	Barbara Beleski
	💍 1917/2177
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway surfaceman	Domestic duties
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Allanton	Allanton
Length of Residence	30 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Allanton
Folio	1340
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Lynch, Catholic

27 January 1917

Edward Roy O'Connor
Eleane Harty

Edward Roy O'Connor
Eleane Harty
💍 1917/2175

Bachelor
Spinster

Shearing expert
Domestic duties

30
25

Mosgiel
Mosgiel

6 weeks
25 years

St Mary's Church, Mosgiel

1338

27 January 1917

Rev. Father M. Scanlan, Catholic

No	5
Date of Notice	27 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Roy O'Connor	Eleane Harty
	💍 1917/2175
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shearing expert	Domestic duties
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel	Mosgiel
Length of Residence	6 weeks	25 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Mosgiel
Folio	1338
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father M. Scanlan, Catholic

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).