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 2680

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar F. G. Pyke

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

20 June 1918

Harold George Raymond
Mary King

Harold George Raymond
Mary King
💍 1918/3809

Bachelor
Spinster

Flax miller
Housekeeper

19
25

Clifton
Invercargill

3 years
7 years

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

3197

Henry G. Raymond, Father

24 June 1918

Registrar

No	63
Date of Notice	20 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold George Raymond	Mary King
	💍 1918/3809
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Flax miller	Housekeeper
Age	19	25
Dwelling Place	Clifton	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	3197
Consent	Henry G. Raymond, Father
Date of Certificate	24 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

22 June 1918

Jonathan Sutkeman Sherman
Elsie Edith Frances Connor

Jonathan Iukerman Sharman
Elsie Edith Frances Connor
💍 1918/3728

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman New Zealand Railways
Domestic

24
25

Invercargill
Kaitangata

7 years
6 weeks

St Pauls English Church, Kaitangata

3117

22 June 1918

Rev J. Perkins

No	64
Date of Notice	22 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jonathan Sutkeman Sherman	Elsie Edith Frances Connor
BDM Match (92%)	Jonathan Iukerman Sharman	Elsie Edith Frances Connor
	💍 1918/3728
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman New Zealand Railways	Domestic
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Kaitangata
Length of Residence	7 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	St Pauls English Church, Kaitangata
Folio	3117
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Perkins

25 June 1918

Charles Henry McKenzie
Olive Muriel McNeill

Charles Henry McKenzie
Olive Muriel McNeill
💍 1918/3810

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer
Domestic

28
25

Milton and Invercargill
Milton and Invercargill

4 years
2 years

Residence of Mrs McNeill, Milton Mains, Invercargill

3198

25 June 1918

Rev J. M. Simpson

No	65
Date of Notice	25 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry McKenzie	Olive Muriel McNeill
	💍 1918/3810
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer	Domestic
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Milton and Invercargill	Milton and Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs McNeill, Milton Mains, Invercargill
Folio	3198
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. M. Simpson

25 June 1918

Thomas Wilson Walker
Mary Edith Shave

Thomas Wilson Walker
Mary Edith Shave
💍 1918/3811

Bachelor
Spinster

Tram Conductor
Dressmaker

20
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

20 years
2/3 year

Residence of Mrs Shave, 47 Ettrick St, Invercargill

3199

James Walker, Father

25 June 1918

Rev E. Clement

No	66
Date of Notice	25 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Wilson Walker	Mary Edith Shave
	💍 1918/3811
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tram Conductor	Dressmaker
Age	20	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	20 years	2/3 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Shave, 47 Ettrick St, Invercargill
Folio	3199
Consent	James Walker, Father
Date of Certificate	25 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev E. Clement

29 June 1918

John Laidlaw McKerchar
Agnes Leith

John Laidlaw McKerchar
Agnes Leith
💍 1918/3970

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic

30
27

Tuturau
Woodlands

-
27 years

Residence of Mr M. Leith, Woodlands, Invercargill

3200

29 June 1918

Rev A. C. Wedderspoon

No	67
Date of Notice	29 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Laidlaw McKerchar	Agnes Leith
	💍 1918/3970
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Tuturau	Woodlands
Length of Residence	-	27 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr M. Leith, Woodlands, Invercargill
Folio	3200
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev A. C. Wedderspoon

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).