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 2373

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar W.W. Samson

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

262

19 July 1918

Wesley Bratt
Alfreda Isabell Fraser

Wesley Bratt
Alfreda Isabell Fraser
💍 1918/3850

Bachelor
Spinster

Minister

29
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
2 years

Methodist Manse, Brighton Street, Roslyn

3289

19 July 1918

T.A. Pybus, Methodist

No	262
Date of Notice	19 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wesley Bratt	Alfreda Isabell Fraser
	💍 1918/3850
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Minister
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Manse, Brighton Street, Roslyn
Folio	3289
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1918
Officiating Minister	T.A. Pybus, Methodist

263

19 July 1918

William Charles Dowling
Nellie Louisa Perry

William Charles Dowling
Nellie Louisa Perry
💍 1918/4461

Bachelor
Spinster

Shop assistant

19
16

Dunedin
Dunedin

12 years
5 years

Knox Church Vestry, Dunedin

4029

J. Dowling (Father); N.T. Perry (Mother)

19 July 1918

R.E. Davies, Presbyterian

No	263
Date of Notice	19 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Dowling	Nellie Louisa Perry
	💍 1918/4461
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shop assistant
Age	19	16
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	12 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church Vestry, Dunedin
Folio	4029
Consent	J. Dowling (Father); N.T. Perry (Mother)
Date of Certificate	19 July 1918
Officiating Minister	R.E. Davies, Presbyterian

264

19 July 1918

James Ross
Eva Priscilla Whitburn

James Ross
Eva Priscilla Whitburn
💍 1918/4462

Bachelor
Spinster

Letter carrier

26
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
22 years

Knox Church Dunedin

4030

19 July 1918

R.E. Davies, Presbyterian

No	264
Date of Notice	19 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Ross	Eva Priscilla Whitburn
	💍 1918/4462
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Letter carrier
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church Dunedin
Folio	4030
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1918
Officiating Minister	R.E. Davies, Presbyterian

265

23 July 1918

Arthur Thomas Downie
Frances Maud Wells

Arthur Thomas Downie
Frances Maud Wells
💍 1918/3851

Bachelor
Spinster

Ships fireman

19
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

9 days
4 years

Registrar's Office Dunedin

3290

Under Sec. 27 of the Marriage Act. (14 days)

12 August 1918

J. Ferguson, Deputy Registrar

No	265
Date of Notice	23 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Thomas Downie	Frances Maud Wells
	💍 1918/3851
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ships fireman
Age	19	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	9 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Dunedin
Folio	3290
Consent	Under Sec. 27 of the Marriage Act. (14 days)
Date of Certificate	12 August 1918
Officiating Minister	J. Ferguson, Deputy Registrar

266

23 July 1918

John David Seatter Miller
Janet Catherine Lily Crawford

John David Seatter Miller
Janet Catherine Lily Crawford
💍 1918/4463

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Clerk

35
29

Dunedin
Dunedin

10 years
29 years

House of J. Crawford, 20 Chamberlain Street, Maori Hill

4031

23 July 1918

R.E. Davies, Presbyterian

No	266
Date of Notice	23 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John David Seatter Miller	Janet Catherine Lily Crawford
	💍 1918/4463
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Clerk
Age	35	29
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	10 years	29 years
Marriage Place	House of J. Crawford, 20 Chamberlain Street, Maori Hill
Folio	4031
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1918
Officiating Minister	R.E. Davies, 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).