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 912

District of Riverton Quarter ending 31 March 1912

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

856

5 February 1912

James George Wilfred Grindlay
Margaret Barron

James George Wilfred Grindlay
Margaret Barron
💍 1912/1867

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm manager
Domestic duties

22
24

Riverton
Gummies Bush

14 months
10 years

At the residence of Robert Barron, Gummies Bush

12/1555

5 February 1912

Revd. W. J. Hooper

No	856
Date of Notice	5 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James George Wilfred Grindlay	Margaret Barron
	💍 1912/1867
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm manager	Domestic duties
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Gummies Bush
Length of Residence	14 months	10 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Robert Barron, Gummies Bush
Folio	12/1555
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Revd. W. J. Hooper

857

7 February 1912

Thomas Walter Russell Anderson
Clarice Annie Instone

Horace Walter Russell Anderson
Clarice Annie Instone
💍 1912/2078

Bachelor
Spinster

Shop assistant
Domestic duties

26
25

Riverton
Thornbury

30 years
25 years

Church of England, Thornbury

12/1767

7 February 1912

Revd. J. Morland

No	857
Date of Notice	7 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Walter Russell Anderson	Clarice Annie Instone
BDM Match (92%)	Horace Walter Russell Anderson	Clarice Annie Instone
	💍 1912/2078
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shop assistant	Domestic duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Thornbury
Length of Residence	30 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Thornbury
Folio	12/1767
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Revd. J. Morland

859

14 February 1912

James Welsh
Margaret Marcella Brooks

James Welsh
Marguerite Marcella Crooks
💍 1912/2085

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic duties

28
22

Invercargill
Thornbury

3 days in Riverton
22 years

Roman Catholic Church, Riverton

12/1773

14 February 1912

Revd. P. Murphy

No	859
Date of Notice	14 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Welsh	Margaret Marcella Brooks
BDM Match (90%)	James Welsh	Marguerite Marcella Crooks
	💍 1912/2085
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Thornbury
Length of Residence	3 days in Riverton	22 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Riverton
Folio	12/1773
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Revd. P. Murphy

859

21 February 1912

William Bell
Ada Rooring Key

William Bell
Eva Moorisy Heydon
💍 1912/1868

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

36
24

Drummond
Thornbury

3 days in Riverton District
24 years

Residence of John Borrowdale, Thornbury

12/1556

21 February 1912

Revd. G. A. Gray

No	859
Date of Notice	21 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Bell	Ada Rooring Key
BDM Match (75%)	William Bell	Eva Moorisy Heydon
	💍 1912/1868
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	36	24
Dwelling Place	Drummond	Thornbury
Length of Residence	3 days in Riverton District	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Borrowdale, Thornbury
Folio	12/1556
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Revd. G. A. Gray

860

30 March 1912

Benjamin Lewis McLachlan
Bridget Eva Boniface

Benjamin Lewis McLachlan
Bridget Eva Boniface
💍 1912/3979

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
23

Riverton
Riverton

25 years
2 years

The private residence of John Walter Boniface, Palmerston Street, Riverton

12/3843

30 March 1912

Revd. G. A. Gray

No	860
Date of Notice	30 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Lewis McLachlan	Bridget Eva Boniface
	💍 1912/3979
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	25 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The private residence of John Walter Boniface, Palmerston Street, Riverton
Folio	12/3843
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1912
Officiating Minister	Revd. G. A. Gray

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).