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 835

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 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

18 April 1912

William Henry Ashby
Agnes Gordon Ashby

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

26
25

Elles Road, Invercargill
Otatara, Invercargill

26 years
25 years

Residence of Mary & George Laycock

12/3743

18 April 1912

Rev W Laycock

No	68
Date of Notice	18 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Ashby	Agnes Gordon Ashby
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Elles Road, Invercargill	Otatara, Invercargill
Length of Residence	26 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mary & George Laycock
Folio	12/3743
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev W Laycock

22 April 1912

John Morton Bell
Emily Jane Maud Robinson

John Morton McCrostie
Emily Jane Maud Robinson
💍 1912/4392

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic

25
24

Leith Street, Invercargill
Winton, Southland

5 years
3 days

Presbyterian Church

12/3863

22 April 1912

Rev R Mackie

No	69
Date of Notice	22 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Morton Bell	Emily Jane Maud Robinson
BDM Match (79%)	John Morton McCrostie	Emily Jane Maud Robinson
	💍 1912/4392
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Leith Street, Invercargill	Winton, Southland
Length of Residence	5 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	12/3863
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev R Mackie

22 April 1912

John George Riddell
Ann Lillie Porter

John George Liddell
Ann Trillo
💍 1912/3924

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Domestic

30
28

Bowmont Street, Invercargill
Ness Street, Invercargill

19 years
28 years

Presbyterian Church

12/3762

22 April 1912

Rev J B Shaw

No	70
Date of Notice	22 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Riddell	Ann Lillie Porter
BDM Match (68%)	John George Liddell	Ann Trillo
	💍 1912/3924
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Domestic
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Bowmont Street, Invercargill	Ness Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	19 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	12/3762
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev J B Shaw

24 April 1912

David McLean Turnbull
Ina Turnbull

David McLeish
Mona Turnbull
💍 1912/4038

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

34
29

Dee Street, Invercargill
Grasmere, Invercargill

2 years
12 years

English Church

12/3751

24 April 1912

Ven Archdeacon Stocker

No	71
Date of Notice	24 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David McLean Turnbull	Ina Turnbull
BDM Match (66%)	David McLeish	Mona Turnbull
	💍 1912/4038
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Dee Street, Invercargill	Grasmere, Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	12 years
Marriage Place	English Church
Folio	12/3751
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Ven Archdeacon Stocker

26 April 1912

Donald Henry Wilson
Jessie Margaret Christie

Donald Henry Wilson
Jessie Margaret Christie
💍 1912/3925

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Domestic

28
39

Otepuni Street, Invercargill
Ettrick Street, Invercargill

28 years
6 years

Residence of Mr & Mrs McLean, Ettrick Street

12/3779

26 April 1912

Rev A M Ryburn

No	72
Date of Notice	26 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Henry Wilson	Jessie Margaret Christie
	💍 1912/3925
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic
Age	28	39
Dwelling Place	Otepuni Street, Invercargill	Ettrick Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	28 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr & Mrs McLean, Ettrick Street
Folio	12/3779
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev A M Ryburn

29 April 1912

Ralph Raleigh Ferguson Saltmarsh
Mabel Beatrice Palmer

Ralph Raleigh Ferguson Lattimore
Mabel Bernice Palmer
💍 1912/2314

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

29
22

Dee Street, Invercargill
Levin Street, Invercargill

15 months
3 days

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

12/2004

29 April 1912

Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

No	73
Date of Notice	29 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ralph Raleigh Ferguson Saltmarsh	Mabel Beatrice Palmer
BDM Match (84%)	Ralph Raleigh Ferguson Lattimore	Mabel Bernice Palmer
	💍 1912/2314
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Dee Street, Invercargill	Levin Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	15 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	12/2004
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

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).