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 2356

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 June 1917 Registrar William Ewart Gladstone

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

166

27 April 1917

James Alexander Winefield
Gladys Constance Graham

James Alexander Winefield
Gladys Constance Graham
💍 1917/2493

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

25 years
21 years

Methodist Manse 66 Fitzroy Street Caversham

1689

27 April 1917

Rev J B Suckling

No	166
Date of Notice	27 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alexander Winefield	Gladys Constance Graham
	💍 1917/2493
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	25 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Manse 66 Fitzroy Street Caversham
Folio	1689
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev J B Suckling

167

27 April 1917

James Shaw Campbell
Mary Lowery

James Shaw Campbell
Mary Lowery
💍 1917/2494

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

26
29

Dunedin
Dunedin

16 years
10 years

House of J Lowery 46 Pine Hill Terrace Dunedin

1690

27 April 1917

Rev W Hewitson

No	167
Date of Notice	27 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Shaw Campbell	Mary Lowery
	💍 1917/2494
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	16 years	10 years
Marriage Place	House of J Lowery 46 Pine Hill Terrace Dunedin
Folio	1690
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev W Hewitson

168

28 April 1917

John Cochrane
Helen Taylor

John Cochrane
Helen Taylor
💍 1917/2495

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Schoolteacher

31
24

Green Island
Green Island

3 days
14 days

First Church Dunedin

1691

28 April 1917

Rev S R Orr

No	168
Date of Notice	28 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Cochrane	Helen Taylor
	💍 1917/2495
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Schoolteacher
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Green Island	Green Island
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	First Church Dunedin
Folio	1691
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev S R Orr

169

30 April 1917

Clarence StJohn Mayer
Ethel Rose Victoria Growden

Clarence St John Mayer
Ethel Rose Victoria Growden
💍 1917/2496

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

33
29

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
29 years

St Paul's Temporary Cathedral Dunedin

1692

30 April 1917

Rev J C Small

No	169
Date of Notice	30 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence StJohn Mayer	Ethel Rose Victoria Growden
BDM Match (98%)	Clarence St John Mayer	Ethel Rose Victoria Growden
	💍 1917/2496
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	29 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Temporary Cathedral Dunedin
Folio	1692
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev J C Small

170

1 May 1917

Arthur Seddon Peat
Alice Victoria Russell

Arthur Seddon Peats
Alice Victoria Russell
💍 1917/2498

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Tailoress

20
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

20 years
6 years

Presbyterian Manse 33 Young St St Kilda

1693

George Peat (Father); Blanche Seymour Russell (Mother)

1 May 1917

Rev R Fairmaid

No	170
Date of Notice	1 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Seddon Peat	Alice Victoria Russell
BDM Match (97%)	Arthur Seddon Peats	Alice Victoria Russell
	💍 1917/2498
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Tailoress
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse 33 Young St St Kilda
Folio	1693
Consent	George Peat (Father); Blanche Seymour Russell (Mother)
Date of Certificate	1 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev R Fairmaid

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).