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 668

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 June 1912 Registrar Alexander Adam Main

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

3037

14 May 1912

John Frederick Freeman
Emily Florence James

John Frederick Freeman
Emily Florence James
💍 1912/3951

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
25

Enfield
Enfield

19 years
25 years at Enfield

In the residence of Mr Edmond Peter James

12/3815

14 May 1912

Rev. William James Williams

No	3037
Date of Notice	14 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Frederick Freeman	Emily Florence James
	💍 1912/3951
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Enfield	Enfield
Length of Residence	19 years	25 years at Enfield
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mr Edmond Peter James
Folio	12/3815
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. William James Williams

3038

25 May 1912

Cyril Norman Lawless
Alice Margaret Bowie

Cyril Norman Lawless
Alice Margaret Borrie
💍 1912/4400

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolteacher

26
31

Papakaio
Papakaio

2 1/2 years
31 years Papakaio

In the residence of Mr Donald Bowie at Papakaio

12/3992

25 May 1912

Rev. John Steven

No	3038
Date of Notice	25 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Norman Lawless	Alice Margaret Bowie
BDM Match (95%)	Cyril Norman Lawless	Alice Margaret Borrie
	💍 1912/4400
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolteacher
Age	26	31
Dwelling Place	Papakaio	Papakaio
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	31 years Papakaio
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mr Donald Bowie at Papakaio
Folio	12/3992
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 May 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Steven

3039

28 May 1912

Harry Cecil Alderson Fox
Mary Jane Rodgers

Harry Cecil Alderson Fox
Mary Jane Rodgers
💍 1912/7821

Bachelor
Spinster

Bandmaster

26
33

Oamaru
Oamaru

18 months
33 years

In the residence of Mrs Ann Rodgers, Reed Street, Oamaru

12/6125

28 May 1912

Rev James Delacourt Roussell

No	3039
Date of Notice	28 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Cecil Alderson Fox	Mary Jane Rodgers
	💍 1912/7821
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bandmaster
Age	26	33
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	18 months	33 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mrs Ann Rodgers, Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	12/6125
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev James Delacourt Roussell

3040

28 May 1912

Donald Morrison Brown
Violet Mary Martin

Donald Morrison
Violet Mary Martin
💍 1912/41

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic

32
23

Ngapara
Enfield

6 years
23 years Enfield

In the Presbyterian Church at Enfield

12/3808

28 May 1912

Rev. James Standring

No	3040
Date of Notice	28 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Morrison Brown	Violet Mary Martin
BDM Match (86%)	Donald Morrison	Violet Mary Martin
	💍 1912/41
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Ngapara	Enfield
Length of Residence	6 years	23 years Enfield
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church at Enfield
Folio	12/3808
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Standring

3041

29 May 1912

William Henry Harrington
Jessie Ann Craig

William Henry Harrington
Jessie Ann Craig
💍 1912/7859

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
24

Ardgowan
Ardgowan

3 years
24 years Weston

In the Presbyterian Church at Weston

12/6215

29 May 1912

Rev James Wilson

No	3041
Date of Notice	29 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Harrington	Jessie Ann Craig
	💍 1912/7859
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Ardgowan	Ardgowan
Length of Residence	3 years	24 years Weston
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church at Weston
Folio	12/6215
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev James Wilson

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).