Intentions to Marry, 1912 Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840450, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1912 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Gisborne (1912a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1912b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1912c).

Page 010

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1912 Registrar William Waisbury White

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

612

3 January 1912

James Smith
Ada Annie Thomas

James Smith
Ada Annie Thomas
💍 1912/48

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic duties

25
24

Allenton
Netherby

25 years
24 years

St. Stephens Church of England Ashburton

12/4382

3 January 1912

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	612
Date of Notice	3 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Smith	Ada Annie Thomas
	💍 1912/48
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Netherby
Length of Residence	25 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	12/4382
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

613

5 January 1912

Andrew Fitzgerald
Ethel Gertrude Walsh

Andrew Fitzgerald
Ethel Gertrude Walsh
💍 1912/4503

Bachelor
Spinster

Threshing Contractor
Domestic duties

32
26

Allenton
Ashburton

32 years
26 years

Roman Catholic Church Ashburton

12/4401

5 January 1912

Rev. A. O'Hare

No	613
Date of Notice	5 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Fitzgerald	Ethel Gertrude Walsh
	💍 1912/4503
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Threshing Contractor	Domestic duties
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	32 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Ashburton
Folio	12/4401
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. O'Hare

614

10 January 1912

David Cochrane
Mary Ann Patterson

David Cochrane
Mary Ann Patterson
💍 1912/662

Bachelor
Widow

Groom
Domestic duties

39
55

Riverside
Riverside

3 days
15 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

12/335

10 January 1912

W. W. White Registrar

No	614
Date of Notice	10 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Cochrane	Mary Ann Patterson
	💍 1912/662
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Groom	Domestic duties
Age	39	55
Dwelling Place	Riverside	Riverside
Length of Residence	3 days	15 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	12/335
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1912
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

615

12 January 1912

Herbert Anderson
Catherine Hilda Collingwood Campbell

Herbert Anderson
Catherine Hilda Collingwood Campbell
💍 1912/1940

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Agent
Domestic duties

39
25

Ashburton
Allenton

39 years
25 years

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

12/1628

12 January 1912

Rev. J. A. Brown

No	615
Date of Notice	12 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Anderson	Catherine Hilda Collingwood Campbell
	💍 1912/1940
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Agent	Domestic duties
Age	39	25
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Allenton
Length of Residence	39 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	12/1628
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Brown

616

3 February 1912

Daniel McDonnell
Mary Walden

David McDonnell
Mary Madden
💍 1912/4505

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Agent
Domestic duties

36
30

Allenton
Ashburton

32 years
16 years

Roman Catholic Church Ashburton

12/4402

3 February 1912

Rev. A. O'Hare

No	616
Date of Notice	3 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel McDonnell	Mary Walden
BDM Match (82%)	David McDonnell	Mary Madden
	💍 1912/4505
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Agent	Domestic duties
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	32 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Ashburton
Folio	12/4402
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. O'Hare

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).