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 2688

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 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

5 June 1917

Edmund Moylan
Mary Roche

Edmund Moylan
Mary Roche
💍 1917/3960

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Dressmaker

32
30

Invercargill
Invercargill

6 days
20 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne St, Invercargill

3208

5 June 1917

Very Rev. W. Burke

No	60
Date of Notice	5 June 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Moylan	Mary Roche
	💍 1917/3960
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Dressmaker
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne St, Invercargill
Folio	3208
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1917
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. W. Burke

5 June 1917

Friedrich Otto Bauer
Violet Adeline Hatch

Frederick Otto Bauer
Violet Adelene Hatch
💍 1917/3938

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Domestic

37
39

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 weeks
39 years

Presbyterian Church, William St, North Invercargill

3209

5 June 1917

Rev. J. Collie

No	61
Date of Notice	5 June 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Friedrich Otto Bauer	Violet Adeline Hatch
BDM Match (90%)	Frederick Otto Bauer	Violet Adelene Hatch
	💍 1917/3938
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Domestic
Age	37	39
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 weeks	39 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, William St, North Invercargill
Folio	3209
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Collie

6 June 1917

John Jeremiah Taylor
Frances Mary Scott

John Jeremiah Taylor
Frances Mary Scott
💍 1917/3940

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Domestic

23
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

23 years
12 months

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne St, Invercargill

3211, 3210

6 June 1917

Very Rev. W. Burke

No	62
Date of Notice	6 June 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Jeremiah Taylor	Frances Mary Scott
	💍 1917/3940
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Domestic
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	23 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne St, Invercargill
Folio	3211, 3210
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1917
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. W. Burke

13 June 1917

John Nally
Mary Elizabeth Watt

John Nally
Mary Elizabeth Watt
💍 1917/4285

Widower (1/1/17)
Widow (12/10/07)

Farmer
Domestic

58
62

Kennington
Kennington

7 years
4 months

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne St, Invercargill

3351

13 June 1917

Very Rev. W. Burke

No	63
Date of Notice	13 June 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Nally	Mary Elizabeth Watt
	💍 1917/4285
Condition	Widower (1/1/17)	Widow (12/10/07)
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	58	62
Dwelling Place	Kennington	Kennington
Length of Residence	7 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne St, Invercargill
Folio	3351
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1917
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. W. Burke

15 June 1917

George Millar
Vera Rebecca Newton

George Millar
Eva Rebecca Newton
💍 1917/3941

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Saleswoman

26
19

Invercargill
Invercargill

15 months
19 years

Methodist Church, First Street, Invercargill

3212

John Wallace Newton, father

15 June 1917

Rev. A. Peters

No	64
Date of Notice	15 June 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Millar	Vera Rebecca Newton
BDM Match (92%)	George Millar	Eva Rebecca Newton
	💍 1917/3941
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Saleswoman
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	15 months	19 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, First Street, Invercargill
Folio	3212
Consent	John Wallace Newton, father
Date of Certificate	15 June 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Peters

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).