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 463

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 June 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

204

3 April 1912

Ralph Gill
Veda Buckley

Ralph Gill
Veda Buckley
💍 1912/4449

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

21 years
19 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 years
19 years

In the Knox Church Vestry, Dunedin

12/4317

Alice Buckley, mother

3 April 1912

R. E. Davies

No	204
Date of Notice	3 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ralph Gill	Veda Buckley
	💍 1912/4449
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	21 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 years	19 years
Marriage Place	In the Knox Church Vestry, Dunedin
Folio	12/4317
Consent	Alice Buckley, mother
Date of Certificate	3 April 1912
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies

205

3 April 1912

Robert Storer
Margaret Millar Ramsay

Robert Storer
Margaret Millar Ramsay
💍 1912/2953

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

26 years
23 years

St Kilda
Roslyn

3 days
2 years

In the First Church, Dunedin

12/778

3 April 1912

G. H. Balfour

No	205
Date of Notice	3 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Storer	Margaret Millar Ramsay
	💍 1912/2953
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	26 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	St Kilda	Roslyn
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	In the First Church, Dunedin
Folio	12/778
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1912
Officiating Minister	G. H. Balfour

206

3 April 1912

Alexander Gilchrist McMillan
Mary Hinshaw

Alexander Gilchrist
Mary Hinshaw McMillan
💍 1912/3037

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

49 years
47 years

Caversham
Roslyn

8 years
2 years

In the house of Rev. Wm. Saunders, View Street, Dunedin

12/2837

3 April 1912

Wm. Saunders

No	206
Date of Notice	3 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Gilchrist McMillan	Mary Hinshaw
BDM Match (63%)	Alexander Gilchrist	Mary Hinshaw McMillan
	💍 1912/3037
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	49 years	47 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Roslyn
Length of Residence	8 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Rev. Wm. Saunders, View Street, Dunedin
Folio	12/2837
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Wm. Saunders

207

3 April 1912

Ebenezer Yeats Smith
Jessie Cunningham Craig

Ebenezer Yeats Smith
Jessie Cunningham Craig
💍 1912/4533

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

36 years
35 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 months
1 week

In the house of Mr. W. B. Harlow, 22 Cargill Street, Dunedin

12/4300

3 April 1912

R. E. Davies

No	207
Date of Notice	3 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ebenezer Yeats Smith	Jessie Cunningham Craig
	💍 1912/4533
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	36 years	35 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 months	1 week
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. W. B. Harlow, 22 Cargill Street, Dunedin
Folio	12/4300
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1912
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies

208

3 April 1912

Douglas Ramsay
Sibella Marian Haggitt

Douglas Ramsay
Sibella Marian Haggitt
💍 1912/3094

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

31 years
26 years

Dunedin
Anderson's Bay

31 years
26 years

In St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin

12/2818

3 April 1912

H. G. Gould

No	208
Date of Notice	3 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Ramsay	Sibella Marian Haggitt
	💍 1912/3094
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	31 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Anderson's Bay
Length of Residence	31 years	26 years
Marriage Place	In St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	12/2818
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1912
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gould

209

3 April 1912

John Murdoch
Mary Ann Aitkenhead

John Murdoch
Mary Ann Aitkenhead
💍 1912/4163

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24 years
25 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In St. Josephs Cathedral, Dunedin

12/4006

3 April 1912

Wm. Corcoran

No	209
Date of Notice	3 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Murdoch	Mary Ann Aitkenhead
	💍 1912/4163
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In St. Josephs Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	12/4006
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Wm. Corcoran

210

3 April 1912

Charles Herbert Geddeson
Minnie Ann Murdoch

Charles Herbert Geddeson
Minnie Ann Murdoch
💍 1912/4335

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

31 years
24 years

Dunedin
Caversham

6 years
5 years

In the Presbyterian Church, South Dunedin

12/4184

3 April 1912

R. Fairmaid

No	210
Date of Notice	3 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Herbert Geddeson	Minnie Ann Murdoch
	💍 1912/4335
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	31 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Caversham
Length of Residence	6 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church, South Dunedin
Folio	12/4184
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1912
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

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).