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 525

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

586

12 November 1912

William Maydon
Caroline Stuck Marshall

William Maydon
Caroline Stuck Marshall
💍 1912/5239

Bachelor
Spinster

accountant
school teacher

25 years
25 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
5 days

In the house of Mr. A. Marshall, 15 Park Street, Dunedin

12/8796

12 November 1912

I. K. McIntyre

No	586
Date of Notice	12 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Maydon	Caroline Stuck Marshall
	💍 1912/5239
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	accountant	school teacher
Age	25 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	5 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. A. Marshall, 15 Park Street, Dunedin
Folio	12/8796
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 November 1912
Officiating Minister	I. K. McIntyre

587

12 November 1912

James Simpson
Alice Josephine Scott

James Simpson
Alice Josephine Scott
💍 1912/5517

Bachelor
Spinster

storeman

27 years
25 years

North East Valley
North East Valley

20 years
25 years

In the house of Mrs. Scott, 6 Ohoho Road, North East Valley

12/8797

12 November 1912

I. K. McIntyre

No	587
Date of Notice	12 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Simpson	Alice Josephine Scott
	💍 1912/5517
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	storeman
Age	27 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	North East Valley	North East Valley
Length of Residence	20 years	25 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs. Scott, 6 Ohoho Road, North East Valley
Folio	12/8797
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 November 1912
Officiating Minister	I. K. McIntyre

588

12 November 1912

Alfred Walker
Amelia Maud Ellen Ayers

Alfred Walker
Amelia Maud Ellen Ayers
💍 1912/8088

Bachelor
Spinster

bottler

23 years
27 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

23 years
14 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

12/6677

12 November 1912

H. Maxwell

No	588
Date of Notice	12 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Walker	Amelia Maud Ellen Ayers
	💍 1912/8088
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	bottler
Age	23 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	23 years	14 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	12/6677
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 November 1912
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

589

13 November 1912

Josiah Salisbury
Helen Eunice Prior Lawrence

Josiah Salisbury
Helen Eunice Prior Lawrence
💍 1912/8862

Bachelor
Spinster

evangelist

30 years
22 years

Thames
Dunedin

2 months
22 years

In the Church of Christ, Filleul Street, Dunedin

12/8398

13 November 1912

W. C. Waterhouse

No	589
Date of Notice	13 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Josiah Salisbury	Helen Eunice Prior Lawrence
	💍 1912/8862
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	evangelist
Age	30 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 months	22 years
Marriage Place	In the Church of Christ, Filleul Street, Dunedin
Folio	12/8398
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 November 1912
Officiating Minister	W. C. Waterhouse

590

13 November 1912

Walter Williamson
Clarice Rose Barrett

Walter Williamson
Clarice Rose Barrett
💍 1912/8864

Bachelor
Spinster

stock agent

22 years
22 years

Oamaru
Dunedin

19 months
3 years

In St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin

12/8397

13 November 1912

H. G. Gould

No	590
Date of Notice	13 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Williamson	Clarice Rose Barrett
	💍 1912/8864
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	stock agent
Age	22 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Dunedin
Length of Residence	19 months	3 years
Marriage Place	In St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	12/8397
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 November 1912
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gould

591

13 November 1912

Robert Law Anderson
Isabella Warnock

Robert Law Anderson
Isabella Warnock
💍 1912/5475

Bachelor
Spinster

butcher

20 years
19 years

South Dunedin
St. Kilda

4 years
19 years

In the Presbyterian Church, South Dunedin

12/9087

Ann Warnock, mother

13 November 1912

R. Fairmaid

No	591
Date of Notice	13 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Law Anderson	Isabella Warnock
	💍 1912/5475
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	butcher
Age	20 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	St. Kilda
Length of Residence	4 years	19 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church, South Dunedin
Folio	12/9087
Consent	Ann Warnock, mother
Date of Certificate	13 November 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).