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 2673

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 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

2 April 1918

Thomas Marr Dempsey
Ellen Teresa Moloney

Thomas Mark Timpany
Ellen Teresa Moloney
💍 1918/3774

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
House duties

24
23

Invercargill
Makarewa

2 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Church, Leet Street, Invercargill

3163

2 April 1918

Rev. J. O'Neil

No	28
Date of Notice	2 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Marr Dempsey	Ellen Teresa Moloney
BDM Match (87%)	Thomas Mark Timpany	Ellen Teresa Moloney
	💍 1918/3774
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	House duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Makarewa
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Leet Street, Invercargill
Folio	3163
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Neil

2 April 1918

Phillips Douglas Kidd
Sophia Alice Popenhagen

Phillips Douglas Kidd
Sophia Alice Popenhagen
💍 1918/3775

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic

32
32

Waitiri
Lorne

13 years
9 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill

3164

2 April 1918

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	29
Date of Notice	2 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Phillips Douglas Kidd	Sophia Alice Popenhagen
	💍 1918/3775
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Waitiri	Lorne
Length of Residence	13 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill
Folio	3164
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

2 April 1918

John William Rymes Blakeley
Agnes Isobel Denham

John William Rymer Blakeley
Agnes Isobel Swhan
💍 1918/3776

Widower (12/1/18)
Spinster

Business Manager
Clerk

49
38

Invercargill
Invercargill

5 days
3 months

Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill

3165

2 April 1918

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	30
Date of Notice	2 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Rymes Blakeley	Agnes Isobel Denham
BDM Match (88%)	John William Rymer Blakeley	Agnes Isobel Swhan
	💍 1918/3776
Condition	Widower (12/1/18)	Spinster
Profession	Business Manager	Clerk
Age	49	38
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill
Folio	3165
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

3 April 1918

Peter Grant
Bertha Maud Joyce

Peter Grant
Bertha Maud Joyce
💍 1918/3777

Widower (19/8/14)
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic

59
41

Invercargill
Invercargill

8 days
4 years

Residence of Mrs Jane Joyce, 41 Teviot St, Invercargill

3166

3 April 1918

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	31
Date of Notice	3 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Grant	Bertha Maud Joyce
	💍 1918/3777
Condition	Widower (19/8/14)	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic
Age	59	41
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	8 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Jane Joyce, 41 Teviot St, Invercargill
Folio	3166
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

4 April 1918

Henry Carroll
Annie Wilson Lindsay

Henry Carrol
Annie Wilson Lindsay
💍 1918/3778

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal Merchant
Domestic

31
26

Invercargill
Invercargill

6 years
4 years

Residence of Margaret Lindsay, 33 Melbourne St, Invercargill

3167

4 April 1918

Rev. J. Collie

No	32
Date of Notice	4 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Carroll	Annie Wilson Lindsay
BDM Match (96%)	Henry Carrol	Annie Wilson Lindsay
	💍 1918/3778
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal Merchant	Domestic
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Margaret Lindsay, 33 Melbourne St, Invercargill
Folio	3167
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 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).