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 934

District of Winton Quarter ending 31 December 1912 Registrar J. 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

143

7 October 1912

Ernest Thomas Smith
Sarah Elizabeth Young

Ernest Thomas Smith
Sarah Elizabeth Young
💍 1912/8914

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Dressmaker

22
23

Winton
Winton

2 years
23 years

St Thomas's Church, Winton

12/857

7 October 1912

Rev. P. O'Neill, Roman Catholic

No	143
Date of Notice	7 October 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Thomas Smith	Sarah Elizabeth Young
	💍 1912/8914
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Dressmaker
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Winton	Winton
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St Thomas's Church, Winton
Folio	12/857
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. O'Neill, Roman Catholic

144

7 October 1912

James Joseph Cosgrove
Elizabeth Meldrum Hamilton

James Joseph Cosgrove
Elizabeth Meldrum Hamilton
💍 1912/6848

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Domestic Servant

24
19

Gap Road, Winton
Winton

24 years
9 months

St Thomas's Church, Winton

12/691

Father

7 October 1912

Rev. P. O'Neill, Roman Catholic

No	144
Date of Notice	7 October 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Joseph Cosgrove	Elizabeth Meldrum Hamilton
	💍 1912/6848
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Domestic Servant
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Gap Road, Winton	Winton
Length of Residence	24 years	9 months
Marriage Place	St Thomas's Church, Winton
Folio	12/691
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	7 October 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. O'Neill, Roman Catholic

145

25 November 1912

Hewan Alexander Archdall
Esther Josephine Mackley

Hewan Alexander Archdall
Esther Josephine Mackley
💍 1912/5448

Bachelor
Spinster

Company's Agent
Domestic duties

35
32

Winton
Invercargill

14 months
16 months

All Saints Church, Invercargill

12/910

25 November 1912

Rev. Jones, Church of England

No	145
Date of Notice	25 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hewan Alexander Archdall	Esther Josephine Mackley
	💍 1912/5448
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Company's Agent	Domestic duties
Age	35	32
Dwelling Place	Winton	Invercargill
Length of Residence	14 months	16 months
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Invercargill
Folio	12/910
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jones, Church of England

146

13 December 1912

Francis Kioies Botting
Pleasance Leonie Botting

Francis Zwies
Pleasance Leoni Botting
💍 1912/6854

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
18

Browns
Winton

8 years
2 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Winton

12/692

Henry Botting, Father

13 December 1912

J. G. Russell, Registrar

No	146
Date of Notice	13 December 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Kioies Botting	Pleasance Leonie Botting
BDM Match (73%)	Francis Zwies	Pleasance Leoni Botting
	💍 1912/6854
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Browns	Winton
Length of Residence	8 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Winton
Folio	12/692
Consent	Henry Botting, Father
Date of Certificate	13 December 1912
Officiating Minister	J. G. Russell, Registrar

147

13 December 1912

Sidney Smith Castle
Annie Chesterman

Sidney Smith
Annie Chesterman Castle
💍 1912/8915

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Dressmaker

32
29

Winton
Winton

4 years
29 years

Presbyterian Church, Winton

12/857

13 December 1912

Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

No	147
Date of Notice	13 December 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Smith Castle	Annie Chesterman
BDM Match (66%)	Sidney Smith	Annie Chesterman Castle
	💍 1912/8915
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Dressmaker
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Winton	Winton
Length of Residence	4 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Winton
Folio	12/857
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

148

18 December 1912

Stewart John Irwin
Mary Victoria May

Stewart John Irwin
Mary Victoria May
💍 1913/2326

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

31
33

Lochiel
Thomson's Crossing

25 years
33 years

House of Mrs. J. May, Thomson's Crossing

13/184

18 December 1912

Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

No	148
Date of Notice	18 December 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stewart John Irwin	Mary Victoria May
	💍 1913/2326
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Lochiel	Thomson's Crossing
Length of Residence	25 years	33 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. J. May, Thomson's Crossing
Folio	13/184
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 December 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

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).