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 846

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1912 Registrar JOHN GAUNSON PETRIE

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

123

27 July 1912

Charles Herbert Withington
Jeanie Eibson Earman

Charles Herbert Withington
Jeanie Gibson Earsman
💍 1912/5961

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic

27
23

Elles Road, Invercargill
Tweed St, Invercargill

2 years
5 years

St. Paul's Church, Elles Road

12/5148

27 July 1912

Rev. R. T. Robjohns

No	123
Date of Notice	27 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Herbert Withington	Jeanie Eibson Earman
BDM Match (95%)	Charles Herbert Withington	Jeanie Gibson Earsman
	💍 1912/5961
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Elles Road, Invercargill	Tweed St, Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Elles Road
Folio	12/5148
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. T. Robjohns

124

27 July 1912

Andrew Baird
Margaret Lowers Pettigrew

Andrew Baird
Margaret Louisa Pettigrew
💍 1912/5955

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

32
32

Lochiel, Invercargill
Lochiel, Invercargill

32 years
1 year 3 days

Presbyterian Church

12/5143

27 July 1912

Rev. R. T. Robjohns

No	124
Date of Notice	27 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Baird	Margaret Lowers Pettigrew
BDM Match (92%)	Andrew Baird	Margaret Louisa Pettigrew
	💍 1912/5955
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Lochiel, Invercargill	Lochiel, Invercargill
Length of Residence	32 years	1 year 3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	12/5143
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. T. Robjohns

125

29 July 1912

Alfred Henry Worthington
Mary Simpson Thomson

Alfred Henry Worthington
Mary Simpson Thomson
💍 1912/4768

Widower
Spinster

Dairy Farmer
Domestic

37
29

Otatara, Invercargill
Otatara, Invercargill

4 years
3 months

Office of Registrar of Marriages

12/4667

29 July 1912

Registrar of Marriages

No	125
Date of Notice	29 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Henry Worthington	Mary Simpson Thomson
	💍 1912/4768
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Farmer	Domestic
Age	37	29
Dwelling Place	Otatara, Invercargill	Otatara, Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages
Folio	12/4667
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

126

31 July 1912

Thomas Leonard Gilson
Sylvia Gifford Amelia Wilson

Thomas Leonard Gibson
Sylvia Gilford Miller Wilson
💍 1912/7973

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Domestic

23
22

Elles Road, Invercargill
Anna Road, Invercargill

3 years
2 years

Presbyterian Church

12/6306

31 July 1912

Rev. T. H. Burnage

No	126
Date of Notice	31 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Leonard Gilson	Sylvia Gifford Amelia Wilson
BDM Match (87%)	Thomas Leonard Gibson	Sylvia Gilford Miller Wilson
	💍 1912/7973
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Domestic
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Elles Road, Invercargill	Anna Road, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	12/6306
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. H. Burnage

127

3 August 1912

Robert Leslie Procter
Agnes Elizabeth Petrie

Robert Leslie Procter
Agnes Elizabeth Petrie
💍 1912/5839

Bachelor
Spinster

Tea Merchant
Milliner

26
20

Earnscleugh, Invercargill
Gladstone, Invercargill

3 years
1 year

Residence of John Petrie, Gladstone

12/5153

John Petrie, father of bride

3 August 1912

Rev. C. Laycock

No	127
Date of Notice	3 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Leslie Procter	Agnes Elizabeth Petrie
	💍 1912/5839
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tea Merchant	Milliner
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Earnscleugh, Invercargill	Gladstone, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of John Petrie, Gladstone
Folio	12/5153
Consent	John Petrie, father of bride
Date of Certificate	3 August 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Laycock

128

5 August 1912

Frederick James Goodall
Margaret Jane Thomson

Frederick James Goodall
Margaret Jane Thomson
💍 1912/6570

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Domestic

30
21

Kamahi, Invercargill
Kamahi, Invercargill

4 days
7 years

Residence of J. Magnus, Kamahi

12/6464

5 August 1912

Rev. D. M. Leman

No	128
Date of Notice	5 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick James Goodall	Margaret Jane Thomson
	💍 1912/6570
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Domestic
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Kamahi, Invercargill	Kamahi, Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. Magnus, Kamahi
Folio	12/6464
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. M. Leman

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).