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 2527

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar J. F. Harrod

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

27 April 1918

James Rea McKeown
Jessie Helen Calder

James Rea McKeown
Jessie Helen Calder
💍 1918/3733

Bachelor
Spinster

Flourmiller
Domestic duties

31
24

Oamaru
Maheno

1 year
24 years

Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed St, Oamaru

3121

27 April 1918

Rev. James Foley, Roman Catholic

No	6
Date of Notice	27 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Rea McKeown	Jessie Helen Calder
	💍 1918/3733
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Flourmiller	Domestic duties
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Maheno
Length of Residence	1 year	24 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed St, Oamaru
Folio	3121
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Foley, Roman Catholic

3 May 1918

James Hunt
Sarah Anne Adelaide Mangan

James Hunt
Sarah Annie Adelaide Mangan
💍 1918/3734

Bachelor
Divorced 25/9/17

Joiner
Nurse

31
41

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
3 days

St Paul's Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

3122

3 May 1918

Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	3 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hunt	Sarah Anne Adelaide Mangan
BDM Match (98%)	James Hunt	Sarah Annie Adelaide Mangan
	💍 1918/3734
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced 25/9/17
Profession	Joiner	Nurse
Age	31	41
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Paul's Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	3122
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

6 May 1918

Thomas Hunter
Martha Jane Pyke

Thomas Hunter
Martha Jane Pyke
💍 1918/3735

Bachelor
Spinster

Manure manufacturer
Domestic duties

54
43

Oamaru
Oamaru

7 days
40 years

St Luke's Anglican Church, Oamaru

3123

6 May 1918

Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	6 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hunter	Martha Jane Pyke
	💍 1918/3735
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manure manufacturer	Domestic duties
Age	54	43
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	7 days	40 years
Marriage Place	St Luke's Anglican Church, Oamaru
Folio	3123
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

20 May 1918

Kenneth McKay
Annie Elizabeth Jamieson

Kenneth McKay
Annie Elizabeth Jamieson
💍 1918/3736

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

29
26

Oamaru
Oamaru

6 years
3 years

Registrar's Office, Oamaru

3124

20 May 1918

Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru

No	9
Date of Notice	20 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth McKay	Annie Elizabeth Jamieson
	💍 1918/3736
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Oamaru
Folio	3124
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru

24 May 1918

Frederick Martyn
Robina Blacklock

Frederick Martyn
Robina Blacklock
💍 1918/3737

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

29
30

Seaward Downs
Oamaru

1 month
10 years

Residence of Thomas Blacklock, The Cape, Oamaru

3125

24 May 1918

Rev. Joseph Lawson Robinson, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	24 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Martyn	Robina Blacklock
	💍 1918/3737
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Seaward Downs	Oamaru
Length of Residence	1 month	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Thomas Blacklock, The Cape, Oamaru
Folio	3125
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Joseph Lawson Robinson, 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).