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 2531

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 June 1917 Registrar J. H. Garrad

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

3461

2 April 1917

William Sommers Downing Cole
Olive Charlotte Lanie Brinkman

William Sommers Downing Cole
Olive Charlotte Marie Brinkman
💍 1917/4100

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman New Zealand Railways
Domestic duties

23
19

Hilderthorpe
Hilderthorpe

3 days
18 months

Dwellinghouse of Frederick Christian Brinkman, Oamaru

3347

Frederick Christian Brinkman, father

2 April 1917

Rev. George William Hunt

No	3461
Date of Notice	2 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Sommers Downing Cole	Olive Charlotte Lanie Brinkman
BDM Match (97%)	William Sommers Downing Cole	Olive Charlotte Marie Brinkman
	💍 1917/4100
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman New Zealand Railways	Domestic duties
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Hilderthorpe	Hilderthorpe
Length of Residence	3 days	18 months
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Frederick Christian Brinkman, Oamaru
Folio	3347
Consent	Frederick Christian Brinkman, father
Date of Certificate	2 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. George William Hunt

3462

2 April 1917

William Campbell
Beatrice Helen Stuart Kilgour

William Campbell
Beatrice Helen Stuart Kilgour
💍 1917/3888

Bachelor
Spinster

Woollen warper
Domestic duties

25
23

Oamaru
Oamaru

6 years
23 years

Methodist Church, Eden Street, Oamaru

3151

3 April 1917

Rev. John A. Lochore

No	3462
Date of Notice	2 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Campbell	Beatrice Helen Stuart Kilgour
	💍 1917/3888
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woollen warper	Domestic duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	6 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Eden Street, Oamaru
Folio	3151
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. John A. Lochore

3463

3 April 1917

Walter Falloon
Elizabeth Webber

Walter Falloon
Elizabeth Webber
💍 1917/3905

Widower 29/7/1914
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

34
29

Ngapara
Ngapara

12 years
29 years

Dwellinghouse of Henry Webber, Ngapara

3153

3 April 1917

Rev. Alexander Watson

No	3463
Date of Notice	3 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Falloon	Elizabeth Webber
	💍 1917/3905
Condition	Widower 29/7/1914	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Ngapara	Ngapara
Length of Residence	12 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Henry Webber, Ngapara
Folio	3153
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexander Watson

3464

4 April 1917

John Taylor
Barbara Taylor

John Taylor
Barbara Taylor
💍 1917/3855

Bachelor
Widow 22/6/1915

Farm labourer
Domestic duties

35
36

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
12 months

Registrar's Office, Oamaru

3150

4 April 1917

Registrar of Marriages

No	3464
Date of Notice	4 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Taylor	Barbara Taylor
	💍 1917/3855
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 22/6/1915
Profession	Farm labourer	Domestic duties
Age	35	36
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Oamaru
Folio	3150
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

3465

4 April 1917

William John Frederick Robson
Isabell Margaret Chisholm Beaton

William John Frederick Robson
Isabell Margaret Chisholm Beaton
💍 1917/3899

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Domestic duties

33
32

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
26 years

Columba Church, Oamaru

3152

4 April 1917

Rev. Joseph Lawson Robinson

No	3465
Date of Notice	4 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Frederick Robson	Isabell Margaret Chisholm Beaton
	💍 1917/3899
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic duties
Age	33	32
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Columba Church, Oamaru
Folio	3152
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Joseph Lawson Robinson

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).