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 2374

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

254

16 July 1917

Colin Gardiner
Daisy Hutton

Colin Gardiner
Daisy Hutton
💍 1917/4122

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

39
31

Dunedin
Dunedin

13 years
31 years

Methodist Manse Lawrence Street Mornington

3401

16 July 1917

Rev. W. Greenslade

No	254
Date of Notice	16 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colin Gardiner	Daisy Hutton
	💍 1917/4122
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	39	31
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	13 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Manse Lawrence Street Mornington
Folio	3401
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Greenslade

255

18 July 1917

William Henry Hall
Elsie Ellen Crisp

William Henry Hall
Elsie Ellen Crisp
💍 1917/4129

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Saleswoman

30
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

30 years
21 years

St. John's Church Roslyn

3402

18 July 1917

Rev W A R Fitchett

No	255
Date of Notice	18 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Hall	Elsie Ellen Crisp
	💍 1917/4129
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Saleswoman
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	30 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church Roslyn
Folio	3402
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev W A R Fitchett

256

18 July 1917

James Patterson McLeod
Elizabeth Olive O'Hara

James Patterson McLeod
Elizabeth Olive O'Hara
💍 1917/4130

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

21
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
12 months

Trinity Methodist Church Stuart Street Dunedin

3403

John O'Hara (Father)

18 July 1917

Rev W A Hay

No	256
Date of Notice	18 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Patterson McLeod	Elizabeth Olive O'Hara
	💍 1917/4130
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Trinity Methodist Church Stuart Street Dunedin
Folio	3403
Consent	John O'Hara (Father)
Date of Certificate	18 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev W A Hay

257

19 July 1917

Edward Frank Hammond
Phyllis Pollock

Edward Frank Hammond
Phyllis Pollock
💍 1917/4131

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman

25
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
22 years

Registrar's Office Dunedin

3404

19 July 1917

H Maxwell

No	257
Date of Notice	19 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Frank Hammond	Phyllis Pollock
	💍 1917/4131
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Dunedin
Folio	3404
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1917
Officiating Minister	H Maxwell

258

20 July 1917

Charles Gould
Mary Pollock

Charles Gould
Mary Pollock
💍 1917/4132

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

24
19

Dunedin
Dunedin

7 days
19 years

Registrar's Office Dunedin

3405

Barbara Pollock (Mother)

20 July 1917

H Maxwell

No	258
Date of Notice	20 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Gould	Mary Pollock
	💍 1917/4132
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 days	19 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Dunedin
Folio	3405
Consent	Barbara Pollock (Mother)
Date of Certificate	20 July 1917
Officiating Minister	H Maxwell

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).