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 2689

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 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

104

9 October 1918

Charles Henry Bachelor
Helen Gannan Lambert

Charles Henry Batchelor
Helen Gannan Lambert
💍 1918/6489

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic

25
24

Dacre
Woodland

1 year
5 years

Presbyterian Church, Invercargill

6168

11 October 1918

Rev. A. C. Wedderspoon

No	104
Date of Notice	9 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Bachelor	Helen Gannan Lambert
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Henry Batchelor	Helen Gannan Lambert
	💍 1918/6489
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Dacre	Woodland
Length of Residence	1 year	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Invercargill
Folio	6168
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Wedderspoon

105

7 October 1918

Frank Paagt
Rhoda Batson

Frank Padget
Rhoda Butson
💍 1918/6490

Bachelor
Spinster

Musterer
Domestic

24
19

Invercargill
Invercargill

5 days
3 days

English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

6169

Henry H. T. Batson, Father

9 October 1918

Ven. Archdn. Richards

No	105
Date of Notice	7 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Paagt	Rhoda Batson
BDM Match (88%)	Frank Padget	Rhoda Butson
	💍 1918/6490
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Musterer	Domestic
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 days	3 days
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	6169
Consent	Henry H. T. Batson, Father
Date of Certificate	9 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdn. Richards

106

7 October 1918

Samuel Reid
Margaret Dickson

Samuel Reid
Margaret Dickson
💍 1918/6492

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

33
26

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
2 weeks

Residence of Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Tay Street, Invercargill

6170

9 October 1918

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	106
Date of Notice	7 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Reid	Margaret Dickson
	💍 1918/6492
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	6170
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

107

14 October 1918

Edmund Joseph Kearey
Mary Ellen Moloney

Edmond Joseph Casey
Mary Ellen Moloney
💍 1918/6493

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill-worker
Domestic

29
20

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 years
20 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill

6171

Jane Moloney, Mother, by adoption

14 October 1918

Rev. H. J. Wood

No	107
Date of Notice	14 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Joseph Kearey	Mary Ellen Moloney
BDM Match (90%)	Edmond Joseph Casey	Mary Ellen Moloney
	💍 1918/6493
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill-worker	Domestic
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill
Folio	6171
Consent	Jane Moloney, Mother, by adoption
Date of Certificate	14 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Wood

108

16 October 1918

Thomas Pratt
Katharine Dryburgh

Thomas Pratt
Katharine Dryburgh
💍 1918/6494

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

24
19

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 years
2 years

Residence of Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Tay Street, Invercargill

6172

16 October 1918

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	108
Date of Notice	16 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Pratt	Katharine Dryburgh
	💍 1918/6494
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	6172
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

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).