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 441

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1912 Registrar Henry Maxwell

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

24 January 1912

Edmund Isaac Godso
Henrietta Gillies

Edmund Isaac Godso
Henrietta Gillies
💍 1912/631

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinetmaker

33 years
20 years

Dunedin
Maori Hill

33 years
20 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

12/230

Alexander Gillies Father

24 January 1912

H Maxwell

No	45
Date of Notice	24 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Isaac Godso	Henrietta Gillies
	💍 1912/631
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker
Age	33 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Maori Hill
Length of Residence	33 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	12/230
Consent	Alexander Gillies Father
Date of Certificate	24 January 1912
Officiating Minister	H Maxwell

24 January 1912

Adam Scott
Jessie Isabella Beaton

Adam Scott
Jessie Isabella Beaton
💍 1912/632

Bachelor
Spinster

Electric Lineman

34 years
28 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

20 years
6 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

12/231

24 January 1912

H Maxwell

No	46
Date of Notice	24 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adam Scott	Jessie Isabella Beaton
	💍 1912/632
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electric Lineman
Age	34 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	6 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	12/231
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1912
Officiating Minister	H Maxwell

25 January 1912

Albert Charles Amies
Ann Jane Ferguson

Albert Charles Amies
Ann Jane Ferguson
💍 1912/633

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22 years
21 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

12/232

25 January 1912

H. Maxwell

No	47
Date of Notice	25 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Charles Amies	Ann Jane Ferguson
	💍 1912/633
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	12/232
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1912
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

25 January 1912

James Hooper
Annie Matilda Baird

James Hooper
Annie Matilda Baird
💍 1912/634

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

55 years
54 years

Anderson's Bay
South Dunedin

37 years
16 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

12/233

25 January 1912

H Maxwell

No	48
Date of Notice	25 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hooper	Annie Matilda Baird
	💍 1912/634
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	55 years	54 years
Dwelling Place	Anderson's Bay	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	37 years	16 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	12/233
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1912
Officiating Minister	H Maxwell

26 January 1912

William Matthew Fogarty
Charlotte How

William Matthew Fogarty
Charlotte How
💍 1912/635

Bachelor
Divorced

Fitter

31 years
31 years

South Dunedin
South Dunedin

20 years
15 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

12/234

26 January 1912

H. Maxwell

No	49
Date of Notice	26 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Matthew Fogarty	Charlotte How
	💍 1912/635
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Fitter
Age	31 years	31 years
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	15 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	12/234
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1912
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

27 January 1912

Charles William Sundstrum
Beatrice Ellena Thompson

Charles William Sundstrum
Beatrice Ellena Thompson
💍 1912/1236

Bachelor
Spinster

Dentist

28 years
27 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

28 years
27 years

Tabernacle Great King Street Dunedin

12/936

27 January 1912

R Gebbie

No	50
Date of Notice	27 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Sundstrum	Beatrice Ellena Thompson
	💍 1912/1236
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dentist
Age	28 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	28 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Tabernacle Great King Street Dunedin
Folio	12/936
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1912
Officiating Minister	R Gebbie

29 January 1912

William Robinson
Eliza Jagger

William Robinson
Eliza Jagger
💍 1912/612

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill-hand

27 years
34 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 days
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

12/235

29 January 1912

H Maxwell

No	51
Date of Notice	29 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robinson	Eliza Jagger
	💍 1912/612
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill-hand
Age	27 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	12/235
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1912
Officiating Minister	H Maxwell

29 January 1912

Donald Walter Gunn
Fanny Elizabeth Hughes

Donald Walter Gunn
Fanny Elizabeth Hughes
💍 1912/1212

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27 years
19 years

Sandymount
Portobello

25 years
19 years

In the house of Mr David Hughes Portobello

12/912

David Hughes Father

29 January 1912

A Greig

No	52
Date of Notice	29 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Walter Gunn	Fanny Elizabeth Hughes
	💍 1912/1212
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Sandymount	Portobello
Length of Residence	25 years	19 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr David Hughes Portobello
Folio	12/912
Consent	David Hughes Father
Date of Certificate	29 January 1912
Officiating Minister	A Greig

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).