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 2663

District of Gore Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar F. G. J. Pirie

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

24 August 1918

William Ballard Junr
Jane Morton Pate

William McAllan Jr
Jane Morton Pate
💍 1918/5186

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

40
29

Otama
Otama

30 years
4 years

Presbyterian Church at Gore

4767

24 August 1918

Rev. John Simpson, Presbyterian

No	35
Date of Notice	24 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ballard Junr	Jane Morton Pate
BDM Match (83%)	William McAllan Jr	Jane Morton Pate
	💍 1918/5186
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	40	29
Dwelling Place	Otama	Otama
Length of Residence	30 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church at Gore
Folio	4767
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Simpson, Presbyterian

27 August 1918

James Edward Johnston
Jane Helen Ibbotson

James Edward Johnston
June Helen Ibbotson
💍 1918/5188

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Dressmaker

34
33

Gore
Gore

29 years
15 years

Presbyterian Manse Gore

4768

27 August 1918

Rev. John Simpson, Presbyterian

No	36
Date of Notice	27 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Edward Johnston	Jane Helen Ibbotson
BDM Match (97%)	James Edward Johnston	June Helen Ibbotson
	💍 1918/5188
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Dressmaker
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Gore	Gore
Length of Residence	29 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Gore
Folio	4768
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Simpson, Presbyterian

4 September 1918

Spencer Mortimer Allott
Beatrice Wren

Spencer Mortimer Allott
Beatrice Uren
💍 1918/5189

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolteacher
Domestic

25
25

Gore
Gore

3 days
3 years

Dwellinghouse of Mr J. Allott, Gore

4769

4 September 1918

Rev. G. S. Cook, Methodist

No	37
Date of Notice	4 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Spencer Mortimer Allott	Beatrice Wren
BDM Match (96%)	Spencer Mortimer Allott	Beatrice Uren
	💍 1918/5189
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolteacher	Domestic
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Gore	Gore
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Mr J. Allott, Gore
Folio	4769
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. S. Cook, Methodist

5 September 1918

John Henry Brown
Maria Agnes Cooney

John Henry Brown
Maria Agnes Cooney
💍 1918/5250

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

31
25

Kingston Crossing
Waimea

Life
Life

Roman Catholic Church at Gore

4887

5 September 1918

Rev. D. P. Buckley, Roman Catholic

No	38
Date of Notice	5 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Brown	Maria Agnes Cooney
	💍 1918/5250
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Kingston Crossing	Waimea
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church at Gore
Folio	4887
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. P. Buckley, Roman Catholic

20 September 1918

Gustave Neilson
Jessie Beatson Fraser

Gustave Neilson
Jessie Beatson Fraser
💍 1918/5190

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Domestic

22
21

Gore
Lumsden

9 months
Life

Presbyterian Church at Gore

4770

20 September 1918

Rev. John Simpson, Presbyterian

No	39
Date of Notice	20 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gustave Neilson	Jessie Beatson Fraser
	💍 1918/5190
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Domestic
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Gore	Lumsden
Length of Residence	9 months	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church at Gore
Folio	4770
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Simpson, 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).