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 2369

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar H. 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

242

6 July 1918

James Park
Jane Clow Gray

James Park
Jane Clow Gray
💍 1918/3883

Widower
Spinster

Mining Professor

61
47

Dunedin
Dunedin

17 years
40 years

House of J. Gray, Norfolk Street, St. Clair

8269

6 July 1918

G. H. Balfour, Presbyterian

No	242
Date of Notice	6 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Park	Jane Clow Gray
	💍 1918/3883
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Mining Professor
Age	61	47
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	17 years	40 years
Marriage Place	House of J. Gray, Norfolk Street, St. Clair
Folio	8269
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1918
Officiating Minister	G. H. Balfour, Presbyterian

243

6 July 1918

John Lawrence Smith
Isabella Riley

John Lawrence Smith
Isabella Riley
💍 1918/3884

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

37
23

St. Kilda
St. Kilda

7 weeks
23 years

House of Mrs. M. Riley, 86 Prince Albert Road, St. Kilda

8270

6 July 1918

R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

No	243
Date of Notice	6 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lawrence Smith	Isabella Riley
	💍 1918/3884
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	37	23
Dwelling Place	St. Kilda	St. Kilda
Length of Residence	7 weeks	23 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. M. Riley, 86 Prince Albert Road, St. Kilda
Folio	8270
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1918
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

244

8 July 1918

William Wilkins
May Louisa Arnesen

William Wilkins
May Louisa Arnesen
💍 1918/3885

Bachelor
Widow

Lapidist

23
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

20 years
11 years

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

8271

8 July 1918

H. Maxwell, Acting Registrar

No	244
Date of Notice	8 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Wilkins	May Louisa Arnesen
	💍 1918/3885
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Lapidist
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	8271
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1918
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell, Acting Registrar

245

8 July 1918

Khaleel Assid Corban
Julia Abdo Howley

Khaleel Assid Corban
Julia Abdo Howley
💍 1918/3886

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist

28
17

Dunedin
St. Kilda

1 month
5 years

Greek Orthodox Church, South Dunedin

8272

A. Howley (Father)

8 July 1918

V. G. B. King, Church of England

No	245
Date of Notice	8 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Khaleel Assid Corban	Julia Abdo Howley
	💍 1918/3886
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist
Age	28	17
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	St. Kilda
Length of Residence	1 month	5 years
Marriage Place	Greek Orthodox Church, South Dunedin
Folio	8272
Consent	A. Howley (Father)
Date of Certificate	8 July 1918
Officiating Minister	V. G. B. King, Church of England

246

9 July 1918

Oswald McIntosh Gordon Glassford
Vera James

Leswald McIntosh Gordon Glassford
Vera James
💍 1918/3887

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
19

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
7 days

First Church, Dunedin

8273

J. James (Father)

9 July 1918

G. H. Balfour, Presbyterian

No	246
Date of Notice	9 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oswald McIntosh Gordon Glassford	Vera James
BDM Match (97%)	Leswald McIntosh Gordon Glassford	Vera James
	💍 1918/3887
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	First Church, Dunedin
Folio	8273
Consent	J. James (Father)
Date of Certificate	9 July 1918
Officiating Minister	G. H. Balfour, Presbyterian

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).