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 2676

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar H. 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

30 April 1918

John Ewart Milne
Sylvia Bonney

John Ewart Milne
Sylvia Bonney
💍 1918/3813

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housekeeper

19
20

Woodlands
Woodlands

19 years
5 years

Residence of William H. Bonney, Woodlands, Invercargill

3178

Robert Milne father, William H Bonney father

3 May 1918

Rev. F. Bennett

No	43
Date of Notice	30 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ewart Milne	Sylvia Bonney
	💍 1918/3813
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housekeeper
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Woodlands	Woodlands
Length of Residence	19 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William H. Bonney, Woodlands, Invercargill
Folio	3178
Consent	Robert Milne father, William H Bonney father
Date of Certificate	3 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Bennett

30 April 1918

Alexander Small
Ellen Mary Radka

Alexander Small
Eileen Mary Radka
💍 1918/3814

Widower 21/9/14
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

42
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
20 years

English Church, Gladstone, Invercargill

3179

30 April 1918

Rev. G. Fynes-Clinton

No	44
Date of Notice	30 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Small	Ellen Mary Radka
BDM Match (94%)	Alexander Small	Eileen Mary Radka
	💍 1918/3814
Condition	Widower 21/9/14	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	42	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Gladstone, Invercargill
Folio	3179
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Fynes-Clinton

30 April 1918

Sydney Willoughby Green
Bertha Ellen Atkinson

Sydney Willoughby Green
Bertha Ellen Atkinson
💍 1918/3815

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

20
18

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 hours
1 year

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

3180

Section 27 Catherine Atkinson mother

15 May 1918

Registrar

No	45
Date of Notice	30 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Willoughby Green	Bertha Ellen Atkinson
	💍 1918/3815
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 hours	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	3180
Consent	Section 27 Catherine Atkinson mother
Date of Certificate	15 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

7 May 1918

George Edwards
Cecilia Ryan

George Edwards
Cecilia Ryan
💍 1918/3816

Bachelor
Spinster

School teacher

29
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
5 months

Roman Catholic Church, Jed Street, Invercargill

3181

7 May 1918

Rev. H. J. Woods

No	46
Date of Notice	7 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edwards	Cecilia Ryan
	💍 1918/3816
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School teacher
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	5 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Jed Street, Invercargill
Folio	3181
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Woods

8 May 1918

Thomas McKenzie
Winifred Isabela Anderson

Thomas McKenzie
Winifred Isabela Anderson
💍 1918/3817

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
24

Wright's Bush
Wright's Bush

26 years
20 years

Residence of George Anderson, Wright's Bush, Invercargill

3182

8 May 1918

Rev. A. D. Mitchell

No	47
Date of Notice	8 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas McKenzie	Winifred Isabela Anderson
	💍 1918/3817
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Wright's Bush	Wright's Bush
Length of Residence	26 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of George Anderson, Wright's Bush, Invercargill
Folio	3182
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. D. Mitchell

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).