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 2222

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar D. Carmody

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

31 January 1917

Percy Timaru Knowles
Ivy Gertrude Applegarth

Percy Timaru Knowles
Ivy Gertrude Applegarth
💍 1917/2154

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool Expert
Typiste

25
19

Timaru
Timaru

25 years
19 years

Anglican Church Timaru

1317

Mary Gertrude Applegarth Mother

31 January 1917

Rev. M. M. Watters Anglican

No	6
Date of Notice	31 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Timaru Knowles	Ivy Gertrude Applegarth
	💍 1917/2154
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool Expert	Typiste
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	25 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Timaru
Folio	1317
Consent	Mary Gertrude Applegarth Mother
Date of Certificate	31 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. M. Watters Anglican

5 February 1917

Alexander John Garner
Sarah Ann May McKeever

Alexander John Larnder
Sarah Ann May McKeever
💍 1917/2155

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrical Engineer
Domestic Duties

25
22

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
4 years

155 Church Street Timaru

1318

5 February 1917

Rev. E. R. Harris Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	5 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander John Garner	Sarah Ann May McKeever
BDM Match (95%)	Alexander John Larnder	Sarah Ann May McKeever
	💍 1917/2155
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrical Engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	155 Church Street Timaru
Folio	1318
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. R. Harris Presbyterian

27 February 1917

Jeremiah Hanifin
Ruby Botterell

Jermiah Hanifin
Ruby Cotterill
💍 1917/2375

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic duties

20
22

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
3 days

Sacred Heart Catholic Church Timaru

1589

Michael Hanifin Father

27 February 1917

Dean Tubman R.C.

No	8
Date of Notice	27 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jeremiah Hanifin	Ruby Botterell
BDM Match (90%)	Jermiah Hanifin	Ruby Cotterill
	💍 1917/2375
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Catholic Church Timaru
Folio	1589
Consent	Michael Hanifin Father
Date of Certificate	27 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Dean Tubman R.C.

28 February 1917

Horace Bessent Watkinson
Ivy Bertha Ward

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Tailoress

28
22

Timaru
Timaru

4 days
Life

St. Mary's Church Timaru

not sold

28 February 1917

Rev. J. H. Rogers Anglican

No	9
Date of Notice	28 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Bessent Watkinson	Ivy Bertha Ward
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Tailoress
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 days	Life
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Timaru
Folio	not sold
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Rogers Anglican

1 March 1917

Harry Overton Bowron
Adelaide Ruby Phillips

Harry Overton Bowron
Adelaide Ruby Phillips
💍 1917/1763

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepbuyer
Domestic Duties

40
29

Timaru
Fendalton

15 years
8 years

St. Barnabas Church Fendalton

652

1 March 1917

Rev. T. A. Hamilton Anglican

No	10
Date of Notice	1 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Overton Bowron	Adelaide Ruby Phillips
	💍 1917/1763
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepbuyer	Domestic Duties
Age	40	29
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Fendalton
Length of Residence	15 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas Church Fendalton
Folio	652
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. A. Hamilton Anglican

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).