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 460

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 June 1912 Registrar Henry Maxwell

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

183

1 April 1912

Percy William Breen
Mary Agnes McNish

Percy William Breen
Mary Agnes McNish
💍 1912/138

Bachelor
Spinster

Cap manufacturer

23 years
24 years

North East Valley
North East Valley

3 years
1 year

In the Primitive Methodist Church, Dundas Street, Dunedin

12/2832

1 April 1912

Wm Slade

No	183
Date of Notice	1 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy William Breen	Mary Agnes McNish
	💍 1912/138
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cap manufacturer
Age	23 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	North East Valley	North East Valley
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In the Primitive Methodist Church, Dundas Street, Dunedin
Folio	12/2832
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Wm Slade

184

1 April 1912

Samuel Henry Goodall
Daisy Maud Josephine Sandom

Samuel Henry Goodall
Daisy Maude Josephine Sandam
💍 1912/3970

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Dressmaker

25 years
24 years

South Oamaru
Dunedin

25 years
24 years

In the house of Mr. S. H. Goodall, Oamaru

12/3810

1 April 1912

Wm Wright

No	184
Date of Notice	1 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Henry Goodall	Daisy Maud Josephine Sandom
BDM Match (96%)	Samuel Henry Goodall	Daisy Maude Josephine Sandam
	💍 1912/3970
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Dressmaker
Age	25 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	South Oamaru	Dunedin
Length of Residence	25 years	24 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. S. H. Goodall, Oamaru
Folio	12/3810
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Wm Wright

185

1 April 1912

Nicholas George Mant
Mary Mona Greenwood

Nicholas George Mant
Mary Mona Greenwood
💍 1912/9426

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25 years
21 years

Dunedin
Maori Hill

4 years
4 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

12/1970

1 April 1912

H. Maxwell

No	185
Date of Notice	1 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nicholas George Mant	Mary Mona Greenwood
	💍 1912/9426
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Maori Hill
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	12/1970
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1912
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

186

2 April 1912

Lile Carrington Jennins
Lily Patterson

Lisle Carrington Jennins
Lily Patterson
💍 1912/3092

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26 years
22 years

Dunedin
Caversham

3 days
2 weeks

In St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin

12/2816

2 April 1912

H. G. Gould

No	186
Date of Notice	2 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lile Carrington Jennins	Lily Patterson
BDM Match (98%)	Lisle Carrington Jennins	Lily Patterson
	💍 1912/3092
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Caversham
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	In St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	12/2816
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1912
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gould

187

2 April 1912

Walter Sydney Foyall commonly known as Roberts
Jane Gibbs

Walter Sydney Roberts
Jane Gibbs
💍 1912/3055

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Machinist

22 years
23 years

Dunedin
Maori Hill

21 years
3 years

In the house of Mr. G. D. Gibbs, 2 Henry Street, Maori Hill

12/2830

2 April 1912

G. H. Smith

No	187
Date of Notice	2 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Sydney Foyall commonly known as Roberts	Jane Gibbs
BDM Match (73%)	Walter Sydney Roberts	Jane Gibbs
	💍 1912/3055
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Machinist
Age	22 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Maori Hill
Length of Residence	21 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. G. D. Gibbs, 2 Henry Street, Maori Hill
Folio	12/2830
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1912
Officiating Minister	G. H. Smith

188

2 April 1912

Albert Hellyer
Mary Drain

Albert Hellyer
Mary Drain
💍 1912/2935

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

32 years
32 years

Anderson's Bay
Dunedin

32 years
7 years

In the First Church, Dunedin

12/2776

2 April 1912

G. H. Balfour

No	188
Date of Notice	2 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Hellyer	Mary Drain
	💍 1912/2935
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	32 years	32 years
Dwelling Place	Anderson's Bay	Dunedin
Length of Residence	32 years	7 years
Marriage Place	In the First Church, Dunedin
Folio	12/2776
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1912
Officiating Minister	G. H. Balfour

189

2 April 1912

Frederic Joseph Lough
Ethel Smellie

Frederick Joseph Loughan
Ethel Smellie
💍 1912/4325

Widower
Spinster

Electrical engineer

39 years
29 years

St. Kilda
Green Island

9 years
15 years

In the Presbyterian Church, Green Island

12/4192

2 April 1912

J. Kilpatrick

No	189
Date of Notice	2 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederic Joseph Lough	Ethel Smellie
BDM Match (94%)	Frederick Joseph Loughan	Ethel Smellie
	💍 1912/4325
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Electrical engineer
Age	39 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	St. Kilda	Green Island
Length of Residence	9 years	15 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church, Green Island
Folio	12/4192
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1912
Officiating Minister	J. Kilpatrick

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).