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 502

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 December 1911 Registrar Henry 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

666

23 November 1911

James Braib
May Jones

James Craib
May Jones
💍 1911/7149

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

26 years
19 years

South Dunedin
St Kilda

10 years
6 years

In the house of Mr. B. Jones, 38 Driver Street, St Kilda

11/7188

Benjamin Jones, father

23 November 1911

R. Fairmaid

No	666
Date of Notice	23 November 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Braib	May Jones
BDM Match (95%)	James Craib	May Jones
	💍 1911/7149
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	26 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	St Kilda
Length of Residence	10 years	6 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. B. Jones, 38 Driver Street, St Kilda
Folio	11/7188
Consent	Benjamin Jones, father
Date of Certificate	23 November 1911
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

667

23 November 1911

William Grey
Doris Reeves

William Grey
Doris Reeves
💍 1911/9123

Bachelor
Spinster

Confectioner

19 years
16 years

Caversham
Caversham

10 years
7 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

11/6491

Margaret Grey, mother; Reeves, mother

23 November 1911

H. Maxwell

No	667
Date of Notice	23 November 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Grey	Doris Reeves
	💍 1911/9123
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Confectioner
Age	19 years	16 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Caversham
Length of Residence	10 years	7 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	11/6491
Consent	Margaret Grey, mother; Reeves, mother
Date of Certificate	23 November 1911
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

668

23 November 1911

William Henry Roberton Scott
Rema Godby

William Henry Robertson Scott
Rema Godby
💍 1911/9124

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

29 years
29 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

11/6492

23 November 1911

H. Maxwell

No	668
Date of Notice	23 November 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Roberton Scott	Rema Godby
BDM Match (98%)	William Henry Robertson Scott	Rema Godby
	💍 1911/9124
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	29 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	11/6492
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 November 1911
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

669

24 November 1911

John Edward Wheeler
Alice Elizabeth Hannah Fyfe

John Edward Wheeler
Alice Elizabeth Hannah Fyfe
💍 1911/7260

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheet metal worker

33 years
26 years

Anderson Bay
Dunedin

5 months
2 years

In the house of Mr. J. Fyfe, 46 Queen Street, Dunedin

11/7306

24 November 1911

R. E. Davies

No	669
Date of Notice	24 November 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edward Wheeler	Alice Elizabeth Hannah Fyfe
	💍 1911/7260
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheet metal worker
Age	33 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Anderson Bay	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 months	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. J. Fyfe, 46 Queen Street, Dunedin
Folio	11/7306
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 November 1911
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies

671

25 November 1911

David Steven
Ethel Mildred Hills

David Steven
Ethel Mildred Hills
💍 1911/8146

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical practitioner

27 years
28 years

Stratford
Dunedin

9 months
8 months

In the house of Mr. H. M. Hills, 349 Leith Street, Dunedin

11/7981

25 November 1911

J. Steven

No	671
Date of Notice	25 November 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Steven	Ethel Mildred Hills
	💍 1911/8146
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical practitioner
Age	27 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Dunedin
Length of Residence	9 months	8 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. H. M. Hills, 349 Leith Street, Dunedin
Folio	11/7981
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 November 1911
Officiating Minister	J. Steven

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).