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 2214

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar J. McKittrick

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

9 February 1918

William McIvor Vickers
Ellen Mary Rowe

William McIvor Vickers
Ellen Mary Rowe
💍 1918/1842

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

49
34

Timaru
Pleasant Point

1 month
2 months

Registrar's Office, Timaru

1379

9 February 1918

J McKittrick, Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	9 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McIvor Vickers	Ellen Mary Rowe
	💍 1918/1842
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	49	34
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Pleasant Point
Length of Residence	1 month	2 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Timaru
Folio	1379
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1918
Officiating Minister	J McKittrick, Registrar

9 February 1918

Maurice O'Connor
Mary Honora Casey

Maurice O'Connor
Mary Honora Casey
💍 1918/1843

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
26

Cricklewood
Pareora West

15 years
26 years

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

1380

9 February 1918

Rev. J. Tubman, Roman Catholic

No	7
Date of Notice	9 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice O'Connor	Mary Honora Casey
	💍 1918/1843
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Cricklewood	Pareora West
Length of Residence	15 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	1380
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Tubman, Roman Catholic

11 February 1918

William Kemp
Mary Jane Johnston

William Kemp
Mary Jane Johnston
💍 1918/1844

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

49
45

Timaru
Timaru

6 weeks
6 weeks

Residence of Rev. T. Stinson, Russell Square, Timaru

1381

11 February 1918

Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	11 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Kemp	Mary Jane Johnston
	💍 1918/1844
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	49	45
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	6 weeks	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. T. Stinson, Russell Square, Timaru
Folio	1381
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

13 February 1918

John William Fergie
Josephine Mary Roseingrave

John William Fergie
Josephine Mary Roseingrave
💍 1918/1845

Bachelor
Spinster

Relieving Stationmaster

29
30

Timaru
Timaru

5 weeks
3 1/2 years

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

1382

13 February 1918

Rev. J. S. Herbert, Roman Catholic

No	9
Date of Notice	13 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Fergie	Josephine Mary Roseingrave
	💍 1918/1845
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Relieving Stationmaster
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	5 weeks	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	1382
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Herbert, Roman Catholic

18 February 1918

Charles James McKinn
Ethel Stevens

Charles James Munn
Ethel Stevens
💍 1918/1846

Bachelor
Spinster

Monumental Mason
Dressmaker

29
27

Timaru
Timaru

4 years
27 years

Church of England, Timaru

1383

18 February 1918

Rev. J. H. Rogers, Anglican

No	10
Date of Notice	18 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles James McKinn	Ethel Stevens
BDM Match (93%)	Charles James Munn	Ethel Stevens
	💍 1918/1846
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Monumental Mason	Dressmaker
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Timaru
Folio	1383
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Rogers, Anglican

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).