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 2668

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar F. G. Petri

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

4 February 1918

Thomas Richard Murdoch
Caroline Ballantyne Butcher

Thomas Richard Murdoch
Caroline Ballantyne Butcher
💍 1918/1530

Bachelor
Widow (4 September 1916)

Labourer
Home duties

24
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

5 days
1 year

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

1465

4 February 1918

Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	4 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Richard Murdoch	Caroline Ballantyne Butcher
	💍 1918/1530
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (4 September 1916)
Profession	Labourer	Home duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	1465
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

4 February 1918

William Webb Millar
Christina Tippet Todd

William Webb Millar
Christina Eppie Todd
💍 1918/1531

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic

35
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

8 years
24 years

United Friendly Societies' Hall, Tay Street, Invercargill

1466

4 February 1918

Rev. G. Clement

No	7
Date of Notice	4 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Webb Millar	Christina Tippet Todd
BDM Match (91%)	William Webb Millar	Christina Eppie Todd
	💍 1918/1531
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	8 years	24 years
Marriage Place	United Friendly Societies' Hall, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	1466
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Clement

5 February 1918

Lorenzo James Halpin
Kate Lacey

Lorenzo James Halpin
Kate Lacey
💍 1918/1532

Widower
Widow (19 March 1908)

Labourer
Domestic

50
37

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 months
6 years

Residence of Kate Lacey, 146 Teviot Street, Invercargill

1467

5 February 1918

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	8
Date of Notice	5 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lorenzo James Halpin	Kate Lacey
	💍 1918/1532
Condition	Widower	Widow (19 March 1908)
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	50	37
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 months	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Kate Lacey, 146 Teviot Street, Invercargill
Folio	1467
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

8 February 1918

Arthur Morgan Wills
Ruby Isabella Anderson

Arthur Morgan Wills
Ruby Isabella Anderson
💍 1918/1533

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

24
26

Invercargill
Invercargill

24 years
26 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill

1468

8 February 1918

Rev. H. V. Woods

No	9
Date of Notice	8 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Morgan Wills	Ruby Isabella Anderson
	💍 1918/1533
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	24 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill
Folio	1468
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. V. Woods

11 February 1918

John Lake
Helen Grieve

John Lake
Helen Grieve
💍 1918/1534

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
19

Ryal Bush
Wallacetown

25 years
19 years

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

1469

Isabella Grieve, mother

11 February 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	11 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lake	Helen Grieve
	💍 1918/1534
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Ryal Bush	Wallacetown
Length of Residence	25 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	1469
Consent	Isabella Grieve, mother
Date of Certificate	11 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

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).