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 2532

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 1918 Registrar A. Harrod

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

23 October 1918

John Robert Watson
Christina Marion Nimmo

John Robert Watson
Christina Marion Nimmo
💍 1918/6404

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
27

Ngapara
Ngapara

25 years
27 years

Residence of William Nimmo, Ngapara

6138

23 October 1918

Rev. William Nichol, Presbyterian

No	29
Date of Notice	23 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robert Watson	Christina Marion Nimmo
	💍 1918/6404
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Ngapara	Ngapara
Length of Residence	25 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Nimmo, Ngapara
Folio	6138
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Nichol, Presbyterian

25 October 1918

Gavin John Samuel Welch
Margaret Scott Ross

Gavin John Samuel Welch
Margaret Scott Ross
💍 1918/6405

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Laundress

20
25

Oamaru
Oamaru

20 years
4 years

Residence of Samuel Welch, Jersey Street, Oamaru

6139

Samuel Welch, father

25 October 1918

Rev. Joseph Lawson Robinson, Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	25 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gavin John Samuel Welch	Margaret Scott Ross
	💍 1918/6405
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Laundress
Age	20	25
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	20 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Samuel Welch, Jersey Street, Oamaru
Folio	6139
Consent	Samuel Welch, father
Date of Certificate	25 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Joseph Lawson Robinson, Presbyterian

30 October 1918

Thomas McBride
Margaret Alice Wilson Buick

Thomas McBride
Margaret Alice Wilson Buick
💍 1918/6406

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

27
24

Papakaio
Papakaio

3 days
24 years

Residence of Nicholas Craig, White Rocks, Papakaio

6140

30 October 1918

Rev. George Pelham Hunt, Presbyterian

No	31
Date of Notice	30 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas McBride	Margaret Alice Wilson Buick
	💍 1918/6406
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Papakaio	Papakaio
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Nicholas Craig, White Rocks, Papakaio
Folio	6140
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Pelham Hunt, Presbyterian

16 December 1918

David Stewart Paterson
Keziah O'Leary

David Stewart Paterson
Keziah O'Leary
💍 1918/6407

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Domestic Duties

33
28

Oamaru
Oamaru

33 years
25 years

Registrar's Office, Oamaru

6141

16 December 1918

Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru

No	32
Date of Notice	16 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Stewart Paterson	Keziah O'Leary
	💍 1918/6407
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	33 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Oamaru
Folio	6141
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru

17 December 1918

Richard Rusbatch
Jessie Southgate

Richard Rusbatch
Jessie Southgate
💍 1918/6408

Widower
Spinster

Porter
Domestic Duties

49
47

Oamaru
Kakanui South

47 years
47 years

Residence of George Southgate, Kakanui South

6142

17 December 1918

Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

No	33
Date of Notice	17 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Rusbatch	Jessie Southgate
	💍 1918/6408
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Porter	Domestic Duties
Age	49	47
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Kakanui South
Length of Residence	47 years	47 years
Marriage Place	Residence of George Southgate, Kakanui South
Folio	6142
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

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).