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 014

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1912 Registrar William Huisburg 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

631

3 April 1912

William Brown
Rebecca Gourdie McLeod

William Brown Gourdie
Rebecca McLeod
💍 1912/3745

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
domestic duties

56
54

Ashburton
Ashburton

26 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

12/3481

3 April 1912

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	631
Date of Notice	3 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Brown	Rebecca Gourdie McLeod
BDM Match (63%)	William Brown Gourdie	Rebecca McLeod
	💍 1912/3745
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	domestic duties
Age	56	54
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	26 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	12/3481
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

632

3 April 1912

Colin William Parker
Rose Faylor

Colin William Parker
Rose Taylor
💍 1912/4568

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

29
24

Hillowby
Ashburton

29 years
5 days

Methodist Church Ashburton

12/4453

3 April 1912

Rev. J. A. B. Woollscall

No	632
Date of Notice	3 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colin William Parker	Rose Faylor
BDM Match (95%)	Colin William Parker	Rose Taylor
	💍 1912/4568
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Hillowby	Ashburton
Length of Residence	29 years	5 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Ashburton
Folio	12/4453
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. B. Woollscall

633

3 April 1912

William John Bennett
Grace Amelia Wilson

William John Bennett
Grace Amelia Wilson
💍 1912/3746

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
domestic duties

34
24

Whomers
Netherby

3 days
1 month

The Manse Ashburton

12/3482

3 April 1912

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	633
Date of Notice	3 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Bennett	Grace Amelia Wilson
	💍 1912/3746
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	domestic duties
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Whomers	Netherby
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	The Manse Ashburton
Folio	12/3482
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

634

3 April 1912

John Gray Smith
Clara Smith

John Gray
Clara Smith
💍 1912/4051

Bachelor
Spinster woman

Draper Sales

25
25

Greymouth
Ashburton

3 days
25 years

Baring Square Church Ashburton

12/3890

3 April 1912

Rev. H. E. Bellhouse

No	634
Date of Notice	3 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gray Smith	Clara Smith
BDM Match (80%)	John Gray	Clara Smith
	💍 1912/4051
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster woman
Profession	Draper Sales
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Baring Square Church Ashburton
Folio	12/3890
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Bellhouse

635

3 April 1912

Emanuel Kirly
Ellen Jane McLaren

Emanuel Kirdy
Ellen Jane McLaren
💍 1912/2333

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom
domestic duties

25
56

Ashburton
Ashburton

55 years
3 weeks

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

12/2121

3 April 1912

W. W. White, Registrar

No	635
Date of Notice	3 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Emanuel Kirly	Ellen Jane McLaren
BDM Match (96%)	Emanuel Kirdy	Ellen Jane McLaren
	💍 1912/2333
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom	domestic duties
Age	25	56
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	55 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	12/2121
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1912
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

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).