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 2691

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1917 Registrar F. G. Petrie

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

2 July 1917

Rupert Joseph Winter Blick
Clara Ruth Finlay

Rupert Joseph Winter Blick
Clara Ruth Frisby
💍 1917/6592

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk
Dentist's Assistant

19
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

5 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church Tay St. Invercargill

4768

Sarah Lochhead, mother

2 July 1917

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	72
Date of Notice	2 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rupert Joseph Winter Blick	Clara Ruth Finlay
BDM Match (88%)	Rupert Joseph Winter Blick	Clara Ruth Frisby
	💍 1917/6592
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk	Dentist's Assistant
Age	19	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Tay St. Invercargill
Folio	4768
Consent	Sarah Lochhead, mother
Date of Certificate	2 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

3 July 1917

Kenneth Donald Brown
Grace Gray

Kenneth Donald Bridson
Grace Gray
💍 1917/6593

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman N.Z.R.
Shop Assistant

31
32

Invercargill
Invercargill

24 years
5 years

Presbyterian Church Elles Road South Invercargill

4769

3 July 1917

Rev. W. W. Ewart

No	73
Date of Notice	3 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Donald Brown	Grace Gray
BDM Match (91%)	Kenneth Donald Bridson	Grace Gray
	💍 1917/6593
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman N.Z.R.	Shop Assistant
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	24 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Elles Road South Invercargill
Folio	4769
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Ewart

4 July 1917

John Morgan Price
Sarah West Thom

John Morgan Price
Sarah West Thom
💍 1917/6594

Widower 1910
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Dressmaker

81
48

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 days
20 years

Residence of Sarah W. Thom, 120 Elles Rd Invercargill

4770

4 July 1917

Rev. J. Collie

No	74
Date of Notice	4 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Morgan Price	Sarah West Thom
	💍 1917/6594
Condition	Widower 1910	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	81	48
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Sarah W. Thom, 120 Elles Rd Invercargill
Folio	4770
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Collie

4 July 1917

John Plunkath
Catherine McIndoe

John Trembath
Catherine McIndoe
💍 1917/6596

Widower 15 April 1913
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

60
41

Waimatuku
Waimatuku

7 years
43 years

Registrar's Office Invercargill

4771

4 July 1917

Registrar

No	75
Date of Notice	4 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Plunkath	Catherine McIndoe
BDM Match (81%)	John Trembath	Catherine McIndoe
	💍 1917/6596
Condition	Widower 15 April 1913	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	60	41
Dwelling Place	Waimatuku	Waimatuku
Length of Residence	7 years	43 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Invercargill
Folio	4771
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Registrar

9 July 1917

Albert George Henry Smith
Agnes Jane Plate

Albert George Henry Smith
Agnes Jane Hato
💍 1917/6597

Bachelor
Spinster

Bacon Curer
Domestic

20
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

9 years
8 years

English Church Tay St. Invercargill

4772

Geo. H. Smith, Father

9 July 1917

Ven. Archdn. Richards

No	76
Date of Notice	9 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert George Henry Smith	Agnes Jane Plate
BDM Match (91%)	Albert George Henry Smith	Agnes Jane Hato
	💍 1917/6597
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bacon Curer	Domestic
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	9 years	8 years
Marriage Place	English Church Tay St. Invercargill
Folio	4772
Consent	Geo. H. Smith, Father
Date of Certificate	9 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdn. Richards

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).