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 523

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 December 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

544

6 November 1912

Herbert Edward Connor
Margaret Alexander

Herbert Edward Connor
Margaret Alexander
💍 1912/5173

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer

23
30

Green Island
Green Island

3 days
30 years

In the house of Mr. Jas Alexander, Green Island

12/8721

6 November 1912

J. Kilpatrick

No	544
Date of Notice	6 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Edward Connor	Margaret Alexander
	💍 1912/5173
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer
Age	23	30
Dwelling Place	Green Island	Green Island
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Jas Alexander, Green Island
Folio	12/8721
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1912
Officiating Minister	J. Kilpatrick

545

6 November 1912

Alfred Edward William Livingston Houghton
Ethel May Douglas

Alfred Edward William Livingston Houghton
Ethel May Douglas
💍 1912/5359

Bachelor
Spinster

canister maker

21
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

12 years
18 months

In the house of the Rev. E. A. Axelsen, 41 Clyde Street, Dunedin

12/8942

Ellen Reeder, mother of bride

6 November 1912

E. A. Axelsen

No	545
Date of Notice	6 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Edward William Livingston Houghton	Ethel May Douglas
	💍 1912/5359
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	canister maker
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	12 years	18 months
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. E. A. Axelsen, 41 Clyde Street, Dunedin
Folio	12/8942
Consent	Ellen Reeder, mother of bride
Date of Certificate	6 November 1912
Officiating Minister	E. A. Axelsen

546

6 November 1912

John Renfrew Brown
Marion Christina McCartney

John Renfrew Brown
Marion Christina McCartney
💍 1912/5633

Bachelor
Spinster

dairyman

26
34

South Dunedin
Portobello

25 years
30 years

In the Presbyterian Church, Portobello

12/9177

6 November 1912

J. Erwin

No	546
Date of Notice	6 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Renfrew Brown	Marion Christina McCartney
	💍 1912/5633
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	dairyman
Age	26	34
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	Portobello
Length of Residence	25 years	30 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church, Portobello
Folio	12/9177
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1912
Officiating Minister	J. Erwin

547

7 November 1912

Arthur Will Holley
Lilyan Emily Hook

Arthur Will Holley
Lilian Emily Hook
💍 1912/5461

Bachelor
Spinster

expressman

23
23

South Dunedin
South Dunedin

23 years
6 months

In the Methodist Church, Queen's Drive, St Kilda

12/9098

7 November 1912

A. J. Seamer

No	547
Date of Notice	7 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Will Holley	Lilyan Emily Hook
BDM Match (97%)	Arthur Will Holley	Lilian Emily Hook
	💍 1912/5461
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	expressman
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	23 years	6 months
Marriage Place	In the Methodist Church, Queen's Drive, St Kilda
Folio	12/9098
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1912
Officiating Minister	A. J. Seamer

548

7 November 1912

William Charles Jenkins
Dora Robertson

William Charles Jenkins
Dora Robertson
💍 1912/8838

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer

56
48

Dunedin
Green Island

3 days
3 years

In the Rata Tea Rooms, Stuart Street, Dunedin

12/8357

7 November 1912

W. Hay

No	548
Date of Notice	7 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Jenkins	Dora Robertson
	💍 1912/8838
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer
Age	56	48
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Green Island
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	In the Rata Tea Rooms, Stuart Street, Dunedin
Folio	12/8357
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1912
Officiating Minister	W. Hay

549

8 November 1912

Sydney Edmund Dermot Neill
Gladys Amy Williams

Sydney Edmund Dermot Neill
Gladys Amy Williams
💍 1912/8865

Bachelor
Spinster

merchant

28
22

North East Valley
Maori Hill

24 years
5 years

In St Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin

12/8378

8 November 1912

H. G. Gould

No	549
Date of Notice	8 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Edmund Dermot Neill	Gladys Amy Williams
	💍 1912/8865
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	merchant
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	North East Valley	Maori Hill
Length of Residence	24 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In St Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	12/8378
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1912
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gould

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).