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 2533

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 1918 Registrar J. Hannah

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

18 December 1918

Patrick Shanahan
Anne Batchelor

Patrick Shannahan
Annie Batchelor
💍 1918/6409

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housekeeper

33
23

Oamaru
Oamaru

6 months
2 years

St. Luke's Anglican Church Oamaru

6143

18 December 1918

Rev John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

No	34
Date of Notice	18 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Shanahan	Anne Batchelor
BDM Match (94%)	Patrick Shannahan	Annie Batchelor
	💍 1918/6409
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housekeeper
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	6 months	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Anglican Church Oamaru
Folio	6143
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

23 December 1918

John Black
Johanna Ross

John Black
Johanna Ross
💍 1918/6410

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic duties

29
29

Oamaru
Oamaru

4 days
14 days

St Luke's Anglican Church Oamaru

6144

23 December 1918

Rev John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

No	35
Date of Notice	23 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Black	Johanna Ross
	💍 1918/6410
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic duties
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	4 days	14 days
Marriage Place	St Luke's Anglican Church Oamaru
Folio	6144
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

30 December 1918

Charles Stuart Grant
Emily Webber

Charles Stuart Grant
Emily Webber
💍 1919/354

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

26
24

Ngapara
Ngapara

1 week
24 years

Presbyterian Church Ngapara

79/1918

30 December 1918

Rev William Nichol, Presbyterian

No	36
Date of Notice	30 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Stuart Grant	Emily Webber
	💍 1919/354
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Ngapara	Ngapara
Length of Residence	1 week	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ngapara
Folio	79/1918
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev William Nichol, Presbyterian

31 December 1918

James Brown
Louise Atkinson

James Brown
Louise Atkinson
💍 1919/355

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

30
31

Waianakarua
Oamaru

30 years
2 years

Dwellinghouse of Mr Seal Atkinson, Arun St. Oamaru

80/1919

31 December 1918

Rev Peter Clarkson Rennie, Presbyterian

No	37
Date of Notice	31 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Brown	Louise Atkinson
	💍 1919/355
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Waianakarua	Oamaru
Length of Residence	30 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Mr Seal Atkinson, Arun St. Oamaru
Folio	80/1919
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev Peter Clarkson Rennie, Presbyterian

31 December 1918

William Thomas Sings
Flora Walker

William Thomas Sings
Flora Walker
💍 1919/356

Bachelor
Widow

Tailor
Domestic Duties

36
38

Dunedin
South Oamaru

3 months
8 years

Residence of Mr Jesse [illegible], South Oamaru

81/1919

31 December 1918

Rev John A. Lochore, Methodist

No	38
Date of Notice	31 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Sings	Flora Walker
	💍 1919/356
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Tailor	Domestic Duties
Age	36	38
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	South Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 months	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Jesse [illegible], South Oamaru
Folio	81/1919
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev John A. Lochore, 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).