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 2368

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar N. Maxwell

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

237

4 July 1918

John Hill Bray
Linda Wood

John Hill Bray
Linda Wood
💍 1918/5273

Bachelor
Spinster

Metal-worker

40
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

8 years
15 years

House of Mrs. E.H. Wood, 16 Macandrew Road, South Dunedin

4836

4 July 1918

T.W. Newbold Methodist

No	237
Date of Notice	4 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hill Bray	Linda Wood
	💍 1918/5273
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Metal-worker
Age	40	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	8 years	15 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. E.H. Wood, 16 Macandrew Road, South Dunedin
Folio	4836
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1918
Officiating Minister	T.W. Newbold Methodist

238

5 July 1918

William John Morrison
Hannah Corcoran

William John Morrison
Hannah Corcoran
💍 1918/3878

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman

41
42

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

St. Josephs Cathedral, Dunedin

3265

5 July 1918

J. Coffey Roman Catholic

No	238
Date of Notice	5 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Morrison	Hannah Corcoran
	💍 1918/3878
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman
Age	41	42
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Josephs Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	3265
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1918
Officiating Minister	J. Coffey Roman Catholic

239

5 July 1918

John Alexander Wallace
Ruby Sybil North

John Alexander Wallace
Ruby Sybil North
💍 1918/3879

Bachelor
Spinster

Musician

33
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

33 years
3 years

First Church Dunedin

3266

5 July 1918

W. Trotter Presbyterian

No	239
Date of Notice	5 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander Wallace	Ruby Sybil North
	💍 1918/3879
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Musician
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	33 years	3 years
Marriage Place	First Church Dunedin
Folio	3266
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1918
Officiating Minister	W. Trotter Presbyterian

240

5 July 1918

William Coats
Violet Constance Rose

William Coats
Violet Constance Rose
💍 1918/3880

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

27
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

25 years
25 years

Congregational Church, King Street, Dunedin

3267

5 July 1918

G. Heighway Congregational

No	240
Date of Notice	5 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Coats	Violet Constance Rose
	💍 1918/3880
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	25 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, King Street, Dunedin
Folio	3267
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1918
Officiating Minister	G. Heighway Congregational

241

5 July 1918

Joseph Samuel Henry Saunders
Annie Metcalfe

Joseph Samuel Henry Saunders
Annie Metcalfe
💍 1918/3882

Widower 22/9/1917
Spinster

Traveller

20
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

House of Rev. O. Eaton, 56 Royal Terrace Dunedin

3268

5 July 1918

O. Eaton Methodist

No	241
Date of Notice	5 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Samuel Henry Saunders	Annie Metcalfe
	💍 1918/3882
Condition	Widower 22/9/1917	Spinster
Profession	Traveller
Age	20	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	House of Rev. O. Eaton, 56 Royal Terrace Dunedin
Folio	3268
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1918
Officiating Minister	O. Eaton Methodist

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).