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 2678

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar J. 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

8 May 1918

Stanley Hampton Mitchell
Elizabeth Howden

Stanley Hampton Mitchell
Elizabeth Howden
💍 1918/3798

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

28
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

6 months
5 years

Methodist Church, Don St, Invercargill

3187

8 May 1918

Rev. W. G. Slade

No	53
Date of Notice	8 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Hampton Mitchell	Elizabeth Howden
	💍 1918/3798
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Don St, Invercargill
Folio	3187
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Slade

5 June 1918

William Agnew
Annie Caroline Jenks

William Agnew
Annie Caroline Jenks
💍 1918/3799

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman
Domestic

32
36

Otahuti
Otahuti

8 years
18 years

Residence of Alfred H. Jenks, Otahuti, Invercargill

3188

5 June 1918

Rev. J. H. Robertson

No	54
Date of Notice	5 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Agnew	Annie Caroline Jenks
	💍 1918/3799
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman	Domestic
Age	32	36
Dwelling Place	Otahuti	Otahuti
Length of Residence	8 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Alfred H. Jenks, Otahuti, Invercargill
Folio	3188
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Robertson

5 June 1918

William Ross
Irene Grace Batcheler

William Ross
Irene Grace Batcheler
💍 1918/3800

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Saleswoman

29
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

18 months
8 years

Knox Presbyterian Church, Ness St, Invercargill

3189

5 June 1918

Rev. W. C. Blair

No	55
Date of Notice	5 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ross	Irene Grace Batcheler
	💍 1918/3800
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Saleswoman
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	18 months	8 years
Marriage Place	Knox Presbyterian Church, Ness St, Invercargill
Folio	3189
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Blair

5 June 1918

William Ritchie Robson
Edith Myra Forward

William Ritchie Robson
Edith Maud Forward
💍 1918/3801

Bachelor
Spinster

Hospital attendant
Clerk

35
33

Invercargill
Invercargill

12 days
15 days

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Elles Road, South Invercargill

3190

5 June 1918

Rev. W. W. Ewart

No	56
Date of Notice	5 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ritchie Robson	Edith Myra Forward
BDM Match (92%)	William Ritchie Robson	Edith Maud Forward
	💍 1918/3801
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hospital attendant	Clerk
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	12 days	15 days
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Elles Road, South Invercargill
Folio	3190
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Ewart

10 June 1918

Thomas William Blakely
Janet Ann Duston

Thomas William Blatch
Janet Ann Duston
💍 1918/3802

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

45
28

Awarua Plains
Awarua Plains

2 years
7 years

Residence of Mrs Duston, Awarua Plains, Invercargill

3191

10 June 1918

Rev. G. Clement

No	59
Date of Notice	10 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Blakely	Janet Ann Duston
BDM Match (91%)	Thomas William Blatch	Janet Ann Duston
	💍 1918/3802
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	45	28
Dwelling Place	Awarua Plains	Awarua Plains
Length of Residence	2 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Duston, Awarua Plains, Invercargill
Folio	3191
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Clement

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).