Intentions to Marry, 1911 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840447, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1911 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, (1911a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1911b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1911c).

Page 001

District of Akaroa Quarter ending 31 March 1911 Registrar W. A. Harding

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

11 January 1911

Henry Hartley
Frederica Mary Cecil Jobin

Henry Hartley
Frederica Mary Cecil Tobin
💍 1911/1994

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Mistress

24
27

German Bay
German Bay

Life
3 days

St. John's Church, Duvanchelle

11/1522

11 January 1911

A. H. Julius, Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	11 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Hartley	Frederica Mary Cecil Jobin
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Hartley	Frederica Mary Cecil Tobin
	💍 1911/1994
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Mistress
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	German Bay	German Bay
Length of Residence	Life	3 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Duvanchelle
Folio	11/1522
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1911
Officiating Minister	A. H. Julius, Church of England

4 February 1911

Henry Reed
Violet Hartley

Henry Reed
Violet Hartley
💍 1911/2321

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

23
20

O'Kain's Bay
O'Kain's Bay

3 years
Life

Church of England, O'Kain's Bay

11/1663

R. J. E. Hartley, father

4 February 1911

F. G. Brittan, M. A., Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	4 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Reed	Violet Hartley
	💍 1911/2321
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	O'Kain's Bay	O'Kain's Bay
Length of Residence	3 years	Life
Marriage Place	Church of England, O'Kain's Bay
Folio	11/1663
Consent	R. J. E. Hartley, father
Date of Certificate	4 February 1911
Officiating Minister	F. G. Brittan, M. A., Church of England

10 February 1911

David Orren Hales
Alexa Emmeline Higgie

David Orren Hales
Alexa Emmelini Higgie
💍 1911/2335

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk

38
33

Akaroa
Wanganui

3 months
Life

St. John's Church, Matarewa

11/1684

10 February 1911

Henry John Deane, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	10 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Orren Hales	Alexa Emmeline Higgie
BDM Match (98%)	David Orren Hales	Alexa Emmelini Higgie
	💍 1911/2335
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk
Age	38	33
Dwelling Place	Akaroa	Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 months	Life
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Matarewa
Folio	11/1684
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Henry John Deane, Church of England

15 February 1911

Thomas Albert Rafter
Stella Frances Curry

Thomas Albert Rafter
Stella Frances Curry
💍 1911/2147

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter

27
21

Akaroa
Akaroa

3 days
Life

Catholic Church, Akaroa

11/1600

15 February 1911

Stephen Bouetto, Roman Catholic

No	4
Date of Notice	15 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Albert Rafter	Stella Frances Curry
	💍 1911/2147
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Akaroa	Akaroa
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Akaroa
Folio	11/1600
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Stephen Bouetto, Roman Catholic

15 February 1911

Joshua Cecil Painter
Frances Dora Elliott

Joshua Cecil Painter
Frances Dora Elliott
💍 1911/1914

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer

22
22

Le Bon's Bay
Le Bon's Bay

3 weeks
Life

Registrar's Office, Akaroa

11/1390

15 February 1911

W. A. Harding, Registrar of Marriages

No	5
Date of Notice	15 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joshua Cecil Painter	Frances Dora Elliott
	💍 1911/1914
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Le Bon's Bay	Le Bon's Bay
Length of Residence	3 weeks	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Akaroa
Folio	11/1390
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1911
Officiating Minister	W. A. Harding, Registrar of Marriages

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).