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 2683

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar F. G. Peter

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

23 July 1918

John Gray
Annie Elvie Fletcher

John Grant
Annie Eloise Fletcher
💍 1918/5154

Widower
Spinster

Shepherd
Housekeeper

45
36

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
10 days

English Church, Tay St. Invercargill

4783

23 July 1918

Rev. Goolden Richards

No	78
Date of Notice	23 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gray	Annie Elvie Fletcher
BDM Match (85%)	John Grant	Annie Eloise Fletcher
	💍 1918/5154
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Housekeeper
Age	45	36
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	10 days
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay St. Invercargill
Folio	4783
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Goolden Richards

23 July 1918

Hylton Onslow Judd
Ethel Christina Wilson

Hylton Onslow Judd
Ethel Christina Wilson
💍 1918/5155

Bachelor
Spinster

Butter-maker
Domestic

25
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

10 months
6 years

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

4784

23 July 1918

Registrar

No	79
Date of Notice	23 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hylton Onslow Judd	Ethel Christina Wilson
	💍 1918/5155
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butter-maker	Domestic
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	10 months	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	4784
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

24 July 1918

Herbert Panton Lowe
Constance Estelle Joyce

Herbert Panton Cowie
Constance Estelle Joyce
💍 1918/5156

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank clerk
Telephone Operator

28
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
22 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay St. Invercargill

4785

24 July 1918

Rev. H. W. Burridge

No	80
Date of Notice	24 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Panton Lowe	Constance Estelle Joyce
BDM Match (95%)	Herbert Panton Cowie	Constance Estelle Joyce
	💍 1918/5156
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank clerk	Telephone Operator
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay St. Invercargill
Folio	4785
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Burridge

27 July 1918

James Lawrie
Alice Jessie McEachern

James Laurie
Alice Jessie McEachen
💍 1918/5276

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill hand
Domestic

37
34

Tussock Creek
Tussock Creek

3 years
2 years

Residence of Angus McIvor, Tussock Creek, Invercargill

4839

27 July 1918

Rev. A. R. Ross

No	81
Date of Notice	27 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Lawrie	Alice Jessie McEachern
BDM Match (94%)	James Laurie	Alice Jessie McEachen
	💍 1918/5276
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill hand	Domestic
Age	37	34
Dwelling Place	Tussock Creek	Tussock Creek
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Angus McIvor, Tussock Creek, Invercargill
Folio	4839
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. R. Ross

5 August 1918

Harry Nichol
Agnes Louisa Hansen

Harry Nichol
Agnes Louisa Hansen
💍 1918/5211

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant
Home duties

39
30

Invercargill
Stewart Island

3 days
2 years

Presbyterian Church, Half Moon Bay, Stewart Island

4819

5 August 1918

Rev. H. M. McIvor

No	82
Date of Notice	5 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Nichol	Agnes Louisa Hansen
	💍 1918/5211
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant	Home duties
Age	39	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Stewart Island
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Half Moon Bay, Stewart Island
Folio	4819
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. M. McIvor

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).