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 012

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1912 Registrar William Nuisberry 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

622

27 February 1912

Charles Blair
Clare Temple Brown

Charles Blair
Clare Temple-Brown
💍 1912/2023

Bachelor
Spinster

Clergyman
Nurse

30
30

Invercargill
Ashburton

3 days
6 months

Baring Square Church Ashburton

12/1711

29 February 1912

Rev W. J. Elliott

No	622
Date of Notice	27 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Blair	Clare Temple Brown
BDM Match (97%)	Charles Blair	Clare Temple-Brown
	💍 1912/2023
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clergyman	Nurse
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Baring Square Church Ashburton
Folio	12/1711
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev W. J. Elliott

623

12 March 1912

Auguste Jaouen
Jean Gilmer

Auguste Jaonen
Jean Gilmer
💍 1912/663

Widower
Spinster

Blacksmith
Cook

72
61

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

12/336

12 March 1912

W. H. White

No	623
Date of Notice	12 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Auguste Jaouen	Jean Gilmer
BDM Match (96%)	Auguste Jaonen	Jean Gilmer
	💍 1912/663
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Cook
Age	72	61
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	12/336
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1912
Officiating Minister	W. H. White

624

13 March 1912

Frederick Arnold Hopkins
Martha Wilson

Frederick Arnold Hopkins
Martha Wilson
💍 1912/1578

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
domestic duties

23
24

Hampstead
Hampstead

23 years
24 years

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

12/1259

13 March 1912

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	624
Date of Notice	13 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Arnold Hopkins	Martha Wilson
	💍 1912/1578
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	domestic duties
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Hampstead	Hampstead
Length of Residence	23 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	12/1259
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

626

19 March 1912

William Glassey
Ruby Eliza Greenaway

William Glassey
Ruby Eliza Greenaway
💍 1912/4434

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

25
23

Tinwald
Winchmore

10 years
23 years

at the dwelling of Peter Hansen at Winchmore

12/4251

19 March 1912

Rev. F. R. B. Woollospall

No	626
Date of Notice	19 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Glassey	Ruby Eliza Greenaway
	💍 1912/4434
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Winchmore
Length of Residence	10 years	23 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of Peter Hansen at Winchmore
Folio	12/4251
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. R. B. Woollospall

655

19 March 1912

Edward Edgar Taylor
Emma Margaret Gobbe

Edward Edgar Taylor
Emma Margaret Gobbe
💍 1912/49

Bachelor
Spinster

Train Examiner
domestic duties

25
21

Christchurch
Ashburton

3 days
12 months

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

12/4383

19 March 1912

Rev E. Whitehouse

No	655
Date of Notice	19 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Edgar Taylor	Emma Margaret Gobbe
	💍 1912/49
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Train Examiner	domestic duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	12 months
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	12/4383
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev E. Whitehouse

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).