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 2655

District of Gore Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar T. J. Mail

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

7 January 1918

Peter Murdock
Elizabeth Mary Hewlett

Peter Murdock
Elizabeth Mary Hewlett
💍 1918/1536

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

34
23

Gore
Croydon Bush

3 days
8 years

Presbyterian Church Gore

1453

7 January 1918

Rev. J. M. Simpson, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	7 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Murdock	Elizabeth Mary Hewlett
	💍 1918/1536
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Gore	Croydon Bush
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Gore
Folio	1453
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Simpson, Presbyterian

19 January 1918

Charles Terry
Margaret Richardson

Charles Terry
Margaret Richardson
💍 1918/1543

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
Domestic

27
23

Gore
Croydon

4 months
Life

Dwellinghouse of Mr F. W. Richardson at Croydon

1454

19 January 1918

Rev. W. A. H. Hamblett, Anglican

No	2
Date of Notice	19 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Terry	Margaret Richardson
	💍 1918/1543
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	Domestic
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Gore	Croydon
Length of Residence	4 months	Life
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Mr F. W. Richardson at Croydon
Folio	1454
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. H. Hamblett, Anglican

5 February 1918

James Young
Olivia Fanny Gladys Trusler

James Young
Olivia Fanny Gladys Trusler
💍 1918/1544

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

37
24

Pukerau
Arthurton

Life
Life

Presbyterian Church at Gore

1455

5 February 1918

Rev. D. McColl, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	5 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Young	Olivia Fanny Gladys Trusler
	💍 1918/1544
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	37	24
Dwelling Place	Pukerau	Arthurton
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church at Gore
Folio	1455
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. McColl, Presbyterian

6 February 1918

John Ross
Agnes Somerville

John Ross
Agnes Somerville
💍 1918/1545

Widower 10/11/11
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

31
29

Mandeville
Mandeville

4 months
4 months

Presbyterian Manse at Gore

1456

6 February 1918

Rev. J. M. Simpson, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	6 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ross	Agnes Somerville
	💍 1918/1545
Condition	Widower 10/11/11	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Mandeville	Mandeville
Length of Residence	4 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse at Gore
Folio	1456
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Simpson, Presbyterian

12 February 1918

Frank McMurray
Annie O'Hagan

Frank McMurray
Annie O Hagan
💍 1918/1546

Widower 28/10/17
Spinster

Shearer
Domestic

49
29

Waikaia
Gore

2 years

Roman Catholic Church Gore

1457

12 February 1918

Rev. P. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	5
Date of Notice	12 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank McMurray	Annie O'Hagan
BDM Match (96%)	Frank McMurray	Annie O Hagan
	💍 1918/1546
Condition	Widower 28/10/17	Spinster
Profession	Shearer	Domestic
Age	49	29
Dwelling Place	Waikaia	Gore
Length of Residence		2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Gore
Folio	1457
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

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).