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 2684

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar F. 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

14 August 1918

James Armstrong Potts
Violet May Jenkins

James Armstrong Potts
Violet May Jenkins
💍 1918/5157

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

28
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

7 years
7 years

Registrar's Office Invercargill

4785

14 August 1918

Registrar

No	83
Date of Notice	14 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Armstrong Potts	Violet May Jenkins
	💍 1918/5157
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Invercargill
Folio	4785
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

19 August 1918

William John Speirs
Beatrice Lily McKellar

William John Speirs
Beatrice Lily McKellar
💍 1918/5158

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer
Clerk

49
29

Invercargill
Invercargill

26 years
29 years

Presbyterian Church Tay Street Invercargill

4787

19 August 1918

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	84
Date of Notice	19 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Speirs	Beatrice Lily McKellar
	💍 1918/5158
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer	Clerk
Age	49	29
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	26 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Tay Street Invercargill
Folio	4787
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

26 August 1918

William Robert Alexander Dawson
Hilda May Smith

William Robert Alexander Dawson
Hilda May Smith
💍 1918/3282

Bachelor
Spinster

Road Contractor
Domestic

20
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

13 years
4 years

Registrar's Office Invercargill

4788

William Dawson, father

26 August 1918

Registrar

No	85
Date of Notice	26 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robert Alexander Dawson	Hilda May Smith
	💍 1918/3282
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Road Contractor	Domestic
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	13 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Invercargill
Folio	4788
Consent	William Dawson, father
Date of Certificate	26 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

27 August 1918

William Werner
Catherine McCurdy

William Wesney
Catherine McCurdy
💍 1918/5159

Widower (17/9/14)
Spinster

Station Master
Home duties

60
39

Invercargill
Invercargill

55 years
39 years

Residence of John McCurdy, Forth Street, Invercargill

4789

27 August 1918

Rev. A. Peters

No	86
Date of Notice	27 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Werner	Catherine McCurdy
BDM Match (93%)	William Wesney	Catherine McCurdy
	💍 1918/5159
Condition	Widower (17/9/14)	Spinster
Profession	Station Master	Home duties
Age	60	39
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	55 years	39 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John McCurdy, Forth Street, Invercargill
Folio	4789
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Peters

28 August 1918

Henry Edward Fry
Margaret Elizabeth Marshall

Henry Edward Fry
Margaret Elizabeth Marshall
💍 1918/5160

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

31
33

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Floral Tea Rooms, Esk Street, Invercargill

4790

28 August 1918

Rev. J. Pringle

No	87
Date of Notice	28 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Edward Fry	Margaret Elizabeth Marshall
	💍 1918/5160
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Floral Tea Rooms, Esk Street, Invercargill
Folio	4790
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Pringle

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).