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 719

District of Tapanui Quarter ending 31 March 1912 Registrar I. Johnston

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

364

2 January 1912

Dugald Kelly
Florence Spittle

Dugald Kelly Stuart Macaulay
Florence Spittle
💍 1912/1896

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic

45
23

Waikoikoi
Waikoikoi

25 years
15 years

John Spittle's residence Waikoikoi

12/1584

2 January 1912

Rev. G. W. T. Hercus

No	364
Date of Notice	2 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Dugald Kelly	Florence Spittle
BDM Match (71%)	Dugald Kelly Stuart Macaulay	Florence Spittle
	💍 1912/1896
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	45	23
Dwelling Place	Waikoikoi	Waikoikoi
Length of Residence	25 years	15 years
Marriage Place	John Spittle's residence Waikoikoi
Folio	12/1584
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. T. Hercus

365

3 January 1912

Thomas McIntosh
Mary Stark

Thomas McIntosh Crossan
Mary Stark
💍 1912/1895

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

31
30

Kelso
Waikoikoi

Life
Life

W. J. Stark's residence Waikoikoi

12/1583

3 January 1912

Rev. G. W. T. Hercus

No	365
Date of Notice	3 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas McIntosh	Mary Stark
BDM Match (83%)	Thomas McIntosh Crossan	Mary Stark
	💍 1912/1895
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Kelso	Waikoikoi
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	W. J. Stark's residence Waikoikoi
Folio	12/1583
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. T. Hercus

366

23 January 1912

George Oliver Pringle
Jessie Young Thomson

George Oliver Pringle
Jessie Young Thomson
💍 1912/1954

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

32
32

Livingstone
Kelso

Life
24 years

Mrs. Alexander Thomson's residence Kelso

12/1616

23 January 1912

Revd. Thos. Paulin

No	366
Date of Notice	23 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Oliver Pringle	Jessie Young Thomson
	💍 1912/1954
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Livingstone	Kelso
Length of Residence	Life	24 years
Marriage Place	Mrs. Alexander Thomson's residence Kelso
Folio	12/1616
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Revd. Thos. Paulin

367

13 February 1912

Thomas Baker
Barbara Ferguson McCall

Thomas Baker
Barbara Ferguson McCall
💍 1912/1894

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic

30
32

South Dunedin
Waikoikoi

9 years
Life

James McCall's residence Waikoikoi

12/1582

13 February 1912

Rev. G. W. T. Hercus

No	367
Date of Notice	13 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Baker	Barbara Ferguson McCall
	💍 1912/1894
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	Waikoikoi
Length of Residence	9 years	Life
Marriage Place	James McCall's residence Waikoikoi
Folio	12/1582
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. T. Hercus

368

19 February 1912

Walter William Arthur Exler
Alice Hodgkinson

Walter William Arthur Exler
Alice Hodgkinson
💍 1912/1893

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic

29
30

Tapanui
Wanganui

6 months
12 months

Presbyterian Church Tapanui

12/1581

19 February 1912

Rev. G. W. T. Hercus

No	368
Date of Notice	19 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter William Arthur Exler	Alice Hodgkinson
	💍 1912/1893
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Tapanui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	6 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Tapanui
Folio	12/1581
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. T. Hercus

369

13 March 1912

Theodore William McGregor Murray
Euphemia Mary Myrtle Kirke

Theodore William McGregor Murray
Euphemia Mary Myrtle Kirke
💍 1912/3984

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Music Teacher

33
26

Gore
Tapanui

3 months
10 years

J. A. Kirke's residence "Markham" Tapanui

12/3848

13 March 1912

Rev. G. W. T. Hercus

No	369
Date of Notice	13 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Theodore William McGregor Murray	Euphemia Mary Myrtle Kirke
	💍 1912/3984
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Music Teacher
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Gore	Tapanui
Length of Residence	3 months	10 years
Marriage Place	J. A. Kirke's residence "Markham" Tapanui
Folio	12/3848
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. T. Hercus

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).