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 2696

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 1918 Registrar F. G. Peters

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

139

21 December 1918

Arnold Simpson
Ethel Theresa Manning

Arnold Simpson
Ellen Theresa Hanning
💍 1918/6464

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Homekeeper

28
24

Invercargill
Hindon

4 days
1 year

Roman Catholic Church, Waitahuna

6247 Mataura

21 December 1918

Rev. J. O'Neill

No	139
Date of Notice	21 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arnold Simpson	Ethel Theresa Manning
BDM Match (91%)	Arnold Simpson	Ellen Theresa Hanning
	💍 1918/6464
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Homekeeper
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Hindon
Length of Residence	4 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Waitahuna
Folio	6247 Mataura
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Neill

140

23 December 1918

John Alexander Burrowes
Annie Perry

John Alexander Burrowes
Annie Durry
💍 1918/6441

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Waitress

24
25

Invercargill
Invercargill

1 year
2.5 years

English Church, Tay St, Invercargill

6199

23 December 1918

Ven Archdeacon Richards

No	140
Date of Notice	23 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander Burrowes	Annie Perry
BDM Match (91%)	John Alexander Burrowes	Annie Durry
	💍 1918/6441
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Waitress
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 year	2.5 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay St, Invercargill
Folio	6199
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Ven Archdeacon Richards

141

24 December 1918

John Francis Athelstan
Margaret Lillian Jenkins

John Francis McKellar
Margaret Lillian Jenkins
💍 1919/358

Bachelor
Spinster

Linotype Operator
Tailoress

32
28

Invercargill
Invercargill

32 years
28 years

Presbyterian Church, North Invercargill

83/1919

24 December 1918

Rev J. Collie

No	141
Date of Notice	24 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Francis Athelstan	Margaret Lillian Jenkins
BDM Match (86%)	John Francis McKellar	Margaret Lillian Jenkins
	💍 1919/358
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linotype Operator	Tailoress
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	32 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, North Invercargill
Folio	83/1919
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Collie

142

30 December 1918

John Michael Joseph Crimmins
Susan Robertshaw

John Michael Joseph Crimmins
Susan Robertshaw
💍 1918/6442

Bachelor
Widow

Bankman
Dressmaker

49
40

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

English Church, Tay St, Invercargill

6200

30 December 1918

Ven Archdeacon Richards

No	142
Date of Notice	30 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Michael Joseph Crimmins	Susan Robertshaw
	💍 1918/6442
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Bankman	Dressmaker
Age	49	40
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay St, Invercargill
Folio	6200
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Ven Archdeacon Richards

143

30 December 1918

Francis James Elton
Ellen Augustine Sheehan

Francis James Gilroy
Ellen Augustine Sheehan
💍 1918/1725

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic

27
33

Bluff
Invercargill

27 years
10 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tay St, Invercargill

6201 Bluff

30 December 1918

Very Rev W. Burke

No	143
Date of Notice	30 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis James Elton	Ellen Augustine Sheehan
BDM Match (90%)	Francis James Gilroy	Ellen Augustine Sheehan
	💍 1918/1725
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic
Age	27	33
Dwelling Place	Bluff	Invercargill
Length of Residence	27 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tay St, Invercargill
Folio	6201 Bluff
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Very Rev W. Burke

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).