Intentions to Marry, 1918 Rangiora to Chatham Islands (includes Otago)

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840480, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1918 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.

1918f contains pages 2189-2777, covering districts from Rangiora to Chatham Islands (includes Otago)

Page 2267

District of Balclutha Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar George Clinch

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

30 July 1918

Arthur Mitchell
Agnes Millar Dickson

Arthur Mitchell
Agnes Millar Dickson
💍 1918/5197

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic duties

22
24

Balclutha
Henley

22 years
5 years

Presbyterian Manse, Otokia

4755

30 July 1918

Rev. Robert McCulley, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	30 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Mitchell	Agnes Millar Dickson
	💍 1918/5197
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic duties
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Balclutha	Henley
Length of Residence	22 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Otokia
Folio	4755
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert McCulley, Presbyterian

9 August 1918

Charles Redpath McDonald
Florence Nightingale McDonald

Charles Redpath McDonald
Florence Nightingale McDonald
💍 1918/5087

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Dressmaker

26
28

Balclutha
Balclutha

16 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Balclutha

4716

9 August 1918

Rev. S. W. Currie, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	9 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Redpath McDonald	Florence Nightingale McDonald
	💍 1918/5087
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Dressmaker
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Balclutha	Balclutha
Length of Residence	16 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Balclutha
Folio	4716
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. W. Currie, Presbyterian

2 September 1918

James Hall Henderson
May Elliott

James Hall Henderson
May Elliott
💍 1918/5088

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Domestic duties

28
27

Stirling
Stirling

28 years
10 years

Residence of Mr Samuel Elliott, Stirling

4717

2 September 1918

Rev. J. D. Webster, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	2 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hall Henderson	May Elliott
	💍 1918/5088
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Domestic duties
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Stirling	Stirling
Length of Residence	28 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Samuel Elliott, Stirling
Folio	4717
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Webster, Presbyterian

3 September 1918

Alfred Leslie Dabinette
Ellen Gillespie Brown

Alfred Leslie Dabinette
Ellen Gillespie Brown
💍 1918/5089

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic duties

28
32

Stirling
Stirling

28 years
32 years

Registrar's Office, Balclutha

4718

3 September 1918

Geo. Clinch, Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	3 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Leslie Dabinette	Ellen Gillespie Brown
	💍 1918/5089
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	28	32
Dwelling Place	Stirling	Stirling
Length of Residence	28 years	32 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Balclutha
Folio	4718
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Geo. Clinch, Registrar

14 September 1918

Stewart Gibson Wilson
Annie Elizabeth Waugh

Stewart Gibson Wilson
Annie Elizabeth Waugh
💍 1918/5091

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman New Zealand Railways
Housekeeper

24
23

Balclutha
Balclutha

8 months
4 days

Miss R S Rose's Tea Rooms, Balclutha

4719

14 September 1918

Rev. F. Greenwood, Methodist

No	11
Date of Notice	14 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stewart Gibson Wilson	Annie Elizabeth Waugh
	💍 1918/5091
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman New Zealand Railways	Housekeeper
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Balclutha	Balclutha
Length of Residence	8 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Miss R S Rose's Tea Rooms, Balclutha
Folio	4719
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Greenwood, Methodist

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).