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 174

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1912 Registrar Frank Evans

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

826

7 November 1912

Ernest Gustav Kardel Fehrenfeld
Rosina Aldridge

Ernest Gustav Ckardel Fehsenfeld
Rosina Aldridge
💍 1912/8812

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Dom. duties

30
32

Sydenham
Dunsandel

Life
Life

Presbyterian Church, Dunsandel

12/822

7 November 1912

Rev. J. S. Reid

No	826
Date of Notice	7 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Gustav Kardel Fehrenfeld	Rosina Aldridge
BDM Match (95%)	Ernest Gustav Ckardel Fehsenfeld	Rosina Aldridge
	💍 1912/8812
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Dom. duties
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Dunsandel
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dunsandel
Folio	12/822
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Reid

827

7 November 1912

William Joseph Sergison
Edith Marian Huston

William Joseph Sergison
Edith Marion Huston
💍 1912/9004

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Officer

20
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
2 years

St. Marks Church, Opawa

12/8197

Joseph Sergison, his Father

7 November 1912

Rev. H. Williams

No	827
Date of Notice	7 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph Sergison	Edith Marian Huston
BDM Match (97%)	William Joseph Sergison	Edith Marion Huston
	💍 1912/9004
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Officer
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Marks Church, Opawa
Folio	12/8197
Consent	Joseph Sergison, his Father
Date of Certificate	7 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams

828

11 November 1912

George McIntosh
Helen Aitchison

George McIntosh
Helen Aitchison
💍 1912/9014

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
29

Christchurch
Linwood

3 days
7 years

St. Pauls Presbyterian Church, Christchurch

12/8176

11 November 1912

Rev. T. Tait

No	828
Date of Notice	11 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George McIntosh	Helen Aitchison
	💍 1912/9014
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Presbyterian Church, Christchurch
Folio	12/8176
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Tait

829

11 November 1912

Leonard Frank Wallis
Edith Hand

Leonard Frank Wallis
Edith Hand
💍 1912/8683

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

29
23

Addington
Addington

5 days
10 years

St. Marys Church, Addington

12/8120

11 November 1912

Rev. W. S. Bean

No	829
Date of Notice	11 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Frank Wallis	Edith Hand
	💍 1912/8683
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Addington	Addington
Length of Residence	5 days	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Marys Church, Addington
Folio	12/8120
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean

830

11 November 1912

David Woods
Olive Wilhelmina Pascoe

David Woods
Olive Wilhelmiene Pascoe
💍 1912/8780

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

25
20

Spreydon
Spreydon

3 years
3 years

St. Marys Church, Halswell

12/8166

William Pascoe, Father

11 November 1912

Rev. F. Dunsage

No	830
Date of Notice	11 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Woods	Olive Wilhelmina Pascoe
BDM Match (96%)	David Woods	Olive Wilhelmiene Pascoe
	💍 1912/8780
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Spreydon
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Marys Church, Halswell
Folio	12/8166
Consent	William Pascoe, Father
Date of Certificate	11 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Dunsage

831

11 November 1912

William McCaffery
Eva Louisa Blank

William McCaffery
Eva Louisa Blank
💍 1912/9005

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

23
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

Life
5 years

St. Marks Church, Opawa

12/8192

11 November 1912

Rev. H. Williams

No	831
Date of Notice	11 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McCaffery	Eva Louisa Blank
	💍 1912/9005
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	Life	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Marks Church, Opawa
Folio	12/8192
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams

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).