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 930

District of Winton Quarter ending 30 June 1912 Registrar I. G. Russell

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

128

2 April 1912

Hermann Groitman
Grete Warnecke

Hermann Nortman
Grete Warneoke
💍 1912/2373

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

29
24

Hokorivi
Browns

7 years
4 days

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Winton

12/2137

2 April 1912

I. G. Russell, Registrar

No	128
Date of Notice	2 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hermann Groitman	Grete Warnecke
BDM Match (87%)	Hermann Nortman	Grete Warneoke
	💍 1912/2373
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Hokorivi	Browns
Length of Residence	7 years	4 days
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Winton
Folio	12/2137
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1912
Officiating Minister	I. G. Russell, Registrar

129

4 April 1912

Roy Markham Harris
Christian Watson

Roy Markham Marris
Christian Watson
💍 1912/4369

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

31
31

Winton
Winton

8 years
31 years

Holy Trinity Church, Winton

12/3864

4 April 1912

Rev. B. Webb, Church of England

No	129
Date of Notice	4 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Markham Harris	Christian Watson
BDM Match (97%)	Roy Markham Marris	Christian Watson
	💍 1912/4369
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Winton	Winton
Length of Residence	8 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Winton
Folio	12/3864
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Webb, Church of England

130

6 April 1912

Leonard Kennedy Williamson
Florence Emily Kate Williamson

Leonard Kennedy
Florence Williamson
💍 1912/4373

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Domestic duties

23
19

Winton
Winton

13 years
19 years

St Thomas's Church, Winton

12/3868

Mother

6 April 1912

Rev. B. O'Neill, Roman Catholic

No	130
Date of Notice	6 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Kennedy Williamson	Florence Emily Kate Williamson
BDM Match (61%)	Leonard Kennedy	Florence Williamson
	💍 1912/4373
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic duties
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Winton	Winton
Length of Residence	13 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St Thomas's Church, Winton
Folio	12/3868
Consent	Mother
Date of Certificate	6 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. O'Neill, Roman Catholic

131

22 April 1912

John Newton McElrostie
Emily Jane Maud Robinson

John Morton McCrostie
Emily Jane Maud Robinson
💍 1912/4392

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

25
23

Leet Street, Invercargill
Winton

8 years
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Invercargill

12/3863

22 April 1912

Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

No	131
Date of Notice	22 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Newton McElrostie	Emily Jane Maud Robinson
BDM Match (89%)	John Morton McCrostie	Emily Jane Maud Robinson
	💍 1912/4392
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Leet Street, Invercargill	Winton
Length of Residence	8 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Invercargill
Folio	12/3863
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

132

4 May 1912

James Grant Hayward
Janet Elizabeth Thomson

James Grant Hayward
Janet Elizabeth Thomson
💍 1912/4370

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

24
26

Gap Road, Winton
Thomson's Crossing

3 days
26 years

House of Mr. Thomas Thomson, Thomson's Crossing

12/3865

4 May 1912

Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

No	132
Date of Notice	4 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Grant Hayward	Janet Elizabeth Thomson
	💍 1912/4370
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Gap Road, Winton	Thomson's Crossing
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Thomas Thomson, Thomson's Crossing
Folio	12/3865
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

133

30 May 1912

Alexander Gerrard Grove
Mary Marshall

Alexander Gerrard
Mary Grace Marshall
💍 1912/4371

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

23
25

Winton
Winton

23 years
25 years

Presbyterian Church, Winton

12/3866

30 May 1912

Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

No	133
Date of Notice	30 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Gerrard Grove	Mary Marshall
BDM Match (71%)	Alexander Gerrard	Mary Grace Marshall
	💍 1912/4371
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Winton	Winton
Length of Residence	23 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Winton
Folio	12/3866
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).