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 839

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1912 Registrar C. H. N. 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

7 June 1912

Charles Herbert Ward
Annie Cross Innes

Charles Herbert Henry Ward
Annie Cross McKinna
💍 1912/7956

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

22
23

Next Plains, Invercargill
Next Plains, Invercargill

17 years
3 months

Presbyterian Church, Invercargill

12/6313

7 June 1912

Rev. J. M. Rennie

No	92
Date of Notice	7 June 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Herbert Ward	Annie Cross Innes
BDM Match (73%)	Charles Herbert Henry Ward	Annie Cross McKinna
	💍 1912/7956
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Next Plains, Invercargill	Next Plains, Invercargill
Length of Residence	17 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Invercargill
Folio	12/6313
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Rennie

7 June 1912

Charles Albert Sainsbury
Madeline Mary Bryan

Charles Caleb Lainchbury
Madeline Mary Bryan
💍 1912/3911

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Laundress

29
31

Kelvin Street, Invercargill
Clyde Street, Invercargill

29 years
4 years

Residence of J. M. Rennie, Invercargill

12/3753

7 June 1912

Rev. J. M. Rennie

No	93
Date of Notice	7 June 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Albert Sainsbury	Madeline Mary Bryan
BDM Match (83%)	Charles Caleb Lainchbury	Madeline Mary Bryan
	💍 1912/3911
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Laundress
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Kelvin Street, Invercargill	Clyde Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	29 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. M. Rennie, Invercargill
Folio	12/3753
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Rennie

8 June 1912

Edward Samuel Crisp
Doris Copestake

Edward Samuel Crisp
Doris Copestake
💍 1912/2318

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Clerk

30
25

Clyde Street, Invercargill
Clyde Street, Invercargill

7 weeks
5 weeks

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

12/2008

8 June 1912

Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

No	94
Date of Notice	8 June 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Samuel Crisp	Doris Copestake
	💍 1912/2318
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Clerk
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Clyde Street, Invercargill	Clyde Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 weeks	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	12/2008
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1912
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

12 June 1912

Duncan McTaggart
Isabella Frances Turnbull

Duncan McTaggart
Isabella Frances Turnbull
💍 1912/3945

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

34
34

Esk Street, Invercargill
Spey Street, Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Invercargill

12/3783

12 June 1912

Rev. W. M. Ryburn

No	95
Date of Notice	12 June 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duncan McTaggart	Isabella Frances Turnbull
	💍 1912/3945
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	34	34
Dwelling Place	Esk Street, Invercargill	Spey Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Invercargill
Folio	12/3783
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 June 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. M. Ryburn

12 June 1912

John Strachan
Agnes Nelson Torbet

John Strachan
Agnes Wilson Torbet
💍 1912/3946

Bachelor
Spinster

Millworker
Domestic

26
24

Lochiel, Invercargill
Spey Street, Invercargill

7 years
4 days

Presbyterian Church, Invercargill

12/3784

12 June 1912

Rev. W. M. Ryburn

No	96
Date of Notice	12 June 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Strachan	Agnes Nelson Torbet
BDM Match (95%)	John Strachan	Agnes Wilson Torbet
	💍 1912/3946
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Millworker	Domestic
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Lochiel, Invercargill	Spey Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Invercargill
Folio	12/3784
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 June 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. M. Ryburn

13 June 1912

Albert Bragzi
Sarah Ann Buckler

Albert Brazzi
Sarah Ann Buckles
💍 1912/7957

Bachelor
Spinster

Railwayman
Domestic

25
22

Yarrow Street, Invercargill
Yarrow Street, Invercargill

7 years
22 years

Residence of J. M. Rennie, Invercargill

12/6314

13 June 1912

Rev. J. M. Rennie

No	97
Date of Notice	13 June 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Bragzi	Sarah Ann Buckler
BDM Match (93%)	Albert Brazzi	Sarah Ann Buckles
	💍 1912/7957
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railwayman	Domestic
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Yarrow Street, Invercargill	Yarrow Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. M. Rennie, Invercargill
Folio	12/6314
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Rennie

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).