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 627

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1911 Registrar John Gaunson Petrie

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

132

3 July 1911

Frederick William McIntosh
Elizabeth Ethel Spinks Miller

Frederick William McIntosh
Elizabeth Ethel Miller
💍 1911/5501

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitter
Domestic

37
22

Layard Street, Invercargill
Kennington, Invercargill

5 years
22 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Kennington, Invercargill

11/5339

3 July 1911

Rev. W. Laycock

No	132
Date of Notice	3 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William McIntosh	Elizabeth Ethel Spinks Miller
BDM Match (88%)	Frederick William McIntosh	Elizabeth Ethel Miller
	💍 1911/5501
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitter	Domestic
Age	37	22
Dwelling Place	Layard Street, Invercargill	Kennington, Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Kennington, Invercargill
Folio	11/5339
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Laycock

133

8 July 1911

William Moss
Ellen Maud Allen

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

29
20

Yarrow Street, Invercargill
Yarrow Street, Invercargill

5 years
5 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

11/4485

8 July 1911

Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

No	133
Date of Notice	8 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Moss	Ellen Maud Allen
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Yarrow Street, Invercargill	Yarrow Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	11/4485
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

134

8 July 1911

Henry Duncan
Nellie Hughes

Henry Duncan
Nellie Hughes
💍 1911/4688

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

28
24

One Tree Point, Invercargill
One Tree Point, Invercargill

3 days
3 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

11/4486

8 July 1911

Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

No	134
Date of Notice	8 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Duncan	Nellie Hughes
	💍 1911/4688
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	One Tree Point, Invercargill	One Tree Point, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	11/4486
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

135

8 July 1911

Frederick Lawson Smith
Mary Gillies Smith

Fred Lawton
Mary Gillies Smith
💍 1911/5529

Widower
Widow

Bricklayer
Domestic

42
45

Don Street, Invercargill
Ritchie Street, Invercargill

7 years
45 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Ellen Road, Invercargill

11/5344

8 July 1911

Rev. J. T. Taylor

No	135
Date of Notice	8 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Lawson Smith	Mary Gillies Smith
BDM Match (73%)	Fred Lawton	Mary Gillies Smith
	💍 1911/5529
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Bricklayer	Domestic
Age	42	45
Dwelling Place	Don Street, Invercargill	Ritchie Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 years	45 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Ellen Road, Invercargill
Folio	11/5344
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Taylor

136

13 July 1911

John Charles McFarlane
Catherine Spinks McDonald Gray

John Charles McFarlane
Catherine McDonald Gray
💍 1911/5497

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

29
20

Wallacetown, Invercargill
Wallacetown, Invercargill

3 years
20 years

Residence of Janet Gray, Mother, Wallacetown, Invercargill

11/5335

Janet Gray, mother of bride

13 July 1911

Rev. W. Barton

No	136
Date of Notice	13 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charles McFarlane	Catherine Spinks McDonald Gray
BDM Match (88%)	John Charles McFarlane	Catherine McDonald Gray
	💍 1911/5497
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Wallacetown, Invercargill	Wallacetown, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Janet Gray, Mother, Wallacetown, Invercargill
Folio	11/5335
Consent	Janet Gray, mother of bride
Date of Certificate	13 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Barton

137

14 July 1911

Archibald Joseph Hunter
Gertrude Maria Chaplin

Archibald Joseph Aydon
Gertrude May Woodward
💍 1911/1938

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

27
31

Woodend, Invercargill
Kew, Invercargill

4 days
10 days

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

11/4487

14 July 1911

Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

No	137
Date of Notice	14 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Joseph Hunter	Gertrude Maria Chaplin
BDM Match (62%)	Archibald Joseph Aydon	Gertrude May Woodward
	💍 1911/1938
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	27	31
Dwelling Place	Woodend, Invercargill	Kew, Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	11/4487
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

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).