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 2354

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

156

21 April 1917

Olgar Archibald John Thornton
Johanna Ambrose

Olgar Archibald John Thornton
Johanna Ambrose
💍 1917/2509

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

30
27

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 months
3 days

St Joseph's Cathedral Dunedin

1681

21 April 1917

Rev. T S Kavanagh

No	156
Date of Notice	21 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Olgar Archibald John Thornton	Johanna Ambrose
	💍 1917/2509
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 months	3 days
Marriage Place	St Joseph's Cathedral Dunedin
Folio	1681
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. T S Kavanagh

157

21 April 1917

Salim George Anthony
Amelia Howley

[Name: Salim George Similar Anthony Gender: Male Marriage Year: 1917 Exact Marriage Place: New Zealand Spouse: Amelia Howley Relation: Bridegroom Folio Number: 1682]

Bachelor
Spinster

Shopkeeper

21
18

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 months
18 years

St Michael's Syrian Church South Dunedin

1682

Abdo Howley (Father)

21 April 1917

Rev V G B King

No	157
Date of Notice	21 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Salim George Anthony	Amelia Howley
	💍 [Name: Salim George Similar Anthony Gender: Male Marriage Year: 1917 Exact Marriage Place: New Zealand Spouse: Amelia Howley Relation: Bridegroom Folio Number: 1682]
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shopkeeper
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 months	18 years
Marriage Place	St Michael's Syrian Church South Dunedin
Folio	1682
Consent	Abdo Howley (Father)
Date of Certificate	21 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev V G B King

158

21 April 1917

Albert Edward Wyatt
Mary Helen Dee

Albert Edward Wyatt
Mary Ellen Dee
💍 1917/2487

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Tailoress

29
29

St Kilda
Dunedin

4 days
29 years

St Patrick's Basilica South Dunedin Vestry

1683

21 April 1917

Rev. D O'Neill

No	158
Date of Notice	21 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Wyatt	Mary Helen Dee
BDM Match (93%)	Albert Edward Wyatt	Mary Ellen Dee
	💍 1917/2487
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Tailoress
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	St Kilda	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	29 years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Basilica South Dunedin Vestry
Folio	1683
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. D O'Neill

159

21 April 1917

Julius Alexander Ahlbrandt
Margaret Magill

Julius Alexander Ahlbrandt
Margaret Magill
💍 1917/2488

Bachelor
Spinster

Letter carrier
Weaver

22
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

22 years
1 year

House of Rev E A Axelsen 475 George Street Dunedin

1684

21 April 1917

Rev E A Axelsen

No	159
Date of Notice	21 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Julius Alexander Ahlbrandt	Margaret Magill
	💍 1917/2488
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Letter carrier	Weaver
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	22 years	1 year
Marriage Place	House of Rev E A Axelsen 475 George Street Dunedin
Folio	1684
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev E A Axelsen

160

24 April 1917

James Richard Charteris
Sophia Fraser Tosh

James Richard Charteris
Sophia Fraser Tosh
💍 1917/4093

Widower 14/10/12
Spinster

Station Manager

37
34

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 days
2 years

Presbyterian Church Taieri Road Roslyn

3341

24 April 1917

Rev R R M Sutherland

No	160
Date of Notice	24 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Richard Charteris	Sophia Fraser Tosh
	💍 1917/4093
Condition	Widower 14/10/12	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager
Age	37	34
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Taieri Road Roslyn
Folio	3341
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev R R M Sutherland

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).