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 2670

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar T. 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

21 February 1918

Herbert Edwin Moors
Marion Cunningham Moffat

Herbert Edwin Moore
Marion Cunningham Moffat
💍 1918/1541

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial traveller
Clerk

36
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

1 year
5 years

Knox Church, Invercargill

1475

21 February 1918

Rev. Blair

No	16
Date of Notice	21 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Edwin Moors	Marion Cunningham Moffat
BDM Match (97%)	Herbert Edwin Moore	Marion Cunningham Moffat
	💍 1918/1541
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial traveller	Clerk
Age	36	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 year	5 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Invercargill
Folio	1475
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Blair

25 February 1918

John Erbrough Lainchbury
Ivy Mary Scott

John Embrough Lainchbury
Iva May Scott
💍 1918/1542

Bachelor
Widow

Contractor
Tailoress

29
28

Waikiwi
Invercargill

29 years
3 weeks

House of E. Lainchbury, 29 Fulton St, Invercargill

1476

25 February 1918

Rev. H. G. Sprague

No	17
Date of Notice	25 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Erbrough Lainchbury	Ivy Mary Scott
BDM Match (91%)	John Embrough Lainchbury	Iva May Scott
	💍 1918/1542
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Contractor	Tailoress
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Waikiwi	Invercargill
Length of Residence	29 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	House of E. Lainchbury, 29 Fulton St, Invercargill
Folio	1476
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Sprague

25 February 1918

Henry Simpson Steven
Adelaide Maria Wood

Henry Simpson Stevens
Adelaide Maria Wood
💍 1918/1971

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24
22

Awarua Plains
Awarua Plains

7 years
22 years

Methodist Church, Leet St, Invercargill

1477

25 February 1918

Rev. P. J. Ryburn

No	18
Date of Notice	25 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Simpson Steven	Adelaide Maria Wood
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Simpson Stevens	Adelaide Maria Wood
	💍 1918/1971
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Awarua Plains	Awarua Plains
Length of Residence	7 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Leet St, Invercargill
Folio	1477
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Ryburn

2 March 1918

James Bowie Porteous
Mary Gilmour

James Bowie Porteous
Mary Gilmour
💍 1918/1982

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

29
22

Winton
Ryal Bush

29 years
17 years

English Church, Ryal Bush, Invercargill

1478

2 March 1918

Rev. C. E. P. Webb

No	19
Date of Notice	2 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Bowie Porteous	Mary Gilmour
	💍 1918/1982
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Winton	Ryal Bush
Length of Residence	29 years	17 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Ryal Bush, Invercargill
Folio	1478
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. P. Webb

2 March 1918

Daniel Ogilvie
Evelyn Crow

Daniel Ogilvie
Evelyn Crow
💍 1918/1988

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

18
18

Invercargill
Invercargill

6 months
7 years

Residence of Mrs Crow, Ryburn Park St, Invercargill

1479

Daniel Ogilvie father; Herbert Crow father

2 March 1918

Rev. P. J. Ryburn

No	20
Date of Notice	2 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Ogilvie	Evelyn Crow
	💍 1918/1988
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	18	18
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 months	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Crow, Ryburn Park St, Invercargill
Folio	1479
Consent	Daniel Ogilvie father; Herbert Crow father
Date of Certificate	2 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Ryburn

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).