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 2671

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar J. G. Petrie

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

10 March 1918

Sydney Fay
Leah Butler

Sydney Pay
Leah Butler
💍 1918/1989

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom
Domestic

25
23

Invercargill
Invercargill

23 years
23 years

Residence Mrs Butler Robertson St East Invercargill

1480

10 March 1918

Rev. F. B. Hughes

No	21
Date of Notice	10 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Fay	Leah Butler
BDM Match (95%)	Sydney Pay	Leah Butler
	💍 1918/1989
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom	Domestic
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	23 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence Mrs Butler Robertson St East Invercargill
Folio	1480
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. B. Hughes

14 March 1918

Arthur Norton
Maggie Barton Anderson

Arthur Norton
Maggie Barron Anderson
💍 1918/1990

Arthur Tozer
Margaret Anderson
💍 1919/1793

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Shop Assistant

30
40

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 days
20 years

Residence of Rev. R. M. Ryburn Tay St Invercargill

1481

14 March 1918

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	22
Date of Notice	14 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Norton	Maggie Barton Anderson
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Norton	Maggie Barron Anderson
	💍 1918/1990
BDM Match (63%)	Arthur Tozer	Margaret Anderson
	💍 1919/1793
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Shop Assistant
Age	30	40
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. R. M. Ryburn Tay St Invercargill
Folio	1481
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

25 March 1918

Samuel Collett
Emily Ada Budd

Samuel Collett
Emily Ada Buddle
💍 1918/1991

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Domestic

24
22

Invercargill
Fortrose

3 months
18 years

English Church Tay St Invercargill

1482

25 March 1918

Ven. Archdn. Richards

No	23
Date of Notice	25 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Collett	Emily Ada Budd
BDM Match (94%)	Samuel Collett	Emily Ada Buddle
	💍 1918/1991
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Fortrose
Length of Residence	3 months	18 years
Marriage Place	English Church Tay St Invercargill
Folio	1482
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdn. Richards

25 March 1918

Harry Miles
Jane Emily Howard

Harry Miles
Jessie Emily Townsend
💍 1918/1992

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Home duties

25
30

Invercargill
Invercargill

10 years
30 years

Presbyterian Church Tay St Invercargill

1483

25 March 1918

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	24
Date of Notice	25 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Miles	Jane Emily Howard
BDM Match (79%)	Harry Miles	Jessie Emily Townsend
	💍 1918/1992
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Home duties
Age	25	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	10 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Tay St Invercargill
Folio	1483
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

27 March 1918

John Henry Gilbertson
Elizabeth Amelda Kingston

John Henry Gilbertson
Elizabeth Imelda Kingston
💍 1918/1993

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree Absolute 20th February 1918)

Accountant
Domestic

34
37

Invercargill
Invercargill

34 years
37 years

Presbyterian Manse Tay St Invercargill

1484

27 March 1918

Rev. J. Collie

No	25
Date of Notice	27 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Gilbertson	Elizabeth Amelda Kingston
BDM Match (98%)	John Henry Gilbertson	Elizabeth Imelda Kingston
	💍 1918/1993
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree Absolute 20th February 1918)
Profession	Accountant	Domestic
Age	34	37
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	34 years	37 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Tay St Invercargill
Folio	1484
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Collie

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).