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 2372

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 1917 Registrar Henry Maxwell

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

244

3 July 1917

Robert Arthur Crouch
Mary Wann Jones

Robert Arthur Crouch
Mary Wann Jones
💍 1917/4493

Widower 15 September 1915
Widow 6 October 1915

Fisherman

39
36

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office Dunedin

3392

3 July 1917

H. Maxwell

No	244
Date of Notice	3 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Arthur Crouch	Mary Wann Jones
	💍 1917/4493
Condition	Widower 15 September 1915	Widow 6 October 1915
Profession	Fisherman
Age	39	36
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Dunedin
Folio	3392
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1917
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

245

5 July 1917

Thomas Tilbury
Ruth Madeline Mead

Thomas Tilbury
Ruth Madeline Mead
💍 1917/4494

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter

25
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

25 years
20 years

All Saints Church Dunedin

3393

5 July 1917

Rev. A. R. Fitchett

No	245
Date of Notice	5 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Tilbury	Ruth Madeline Mead
	💍 1917/4494
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	25 years	20 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church Dunedin
Folio	3393
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. R. Fitchett

246

9 July 1917

Joseph Alexander Shirreffs
Mary Ellen Jefferson

Joseph Alexander Shirreffs
Mary Ellen Jefferson
💍 1917/4760

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
18

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 years
4 years

House of Rev. E. A. Axelsen, 475 George Street, Dunedin

4160

Wilson Jefferson (Father)

9 July 1917

Rev. E. A. Axelsen

No	246
Date of Notice	9 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Alexander Shirreffs	Mary Ellen Jefferson
	💍 1917/4760
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 years	4 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. E. A. Axelsen, 475 George Street, Dunedin
Folio	4160
Consent	Wilson Jefferson (Father)
Date of Certificate	9 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. A. Axelsen

247

9 July 1917

Robert Chatten Allen
Martha Ann Crawford

Robert Chatten Allen
Martha Ann Crawford
💍 1917/4496

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

28
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

28 years
23 years

Knox Church Dunedin

3394

9 July 1917

Rev. R. E. Davies

No	247
Date of Notice	9 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Chatten Allen	Martha Ann Crawford
	💍 1917/4496
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	28 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church Dunedin
Folio	3394
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. E. Davies

248

9 July 1917

William James McIntyre
Lilian Mabel Smith

William James McIntyre
Lilian Mabel Smith
💍 1917/4497

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

20
19

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
6 years

House of Rev. E. Adams, 16 Garfield Street, Roslyn

3395

James McIntyre (Father); Isabella Smith (Mother)

9 July 1917

Rev. E. Adams

No	248
Date of Notice	9 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James McIntyre	Lilian Mabel Smith
	💍 1917/4497
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	6 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. E. Adams, 16 Garfield Street, Roslyn
Folio	3395
Consent	James McIntyre (Father); Isabella Smith (Mother)
Date of Certificate	9 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Adams

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).