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 450

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1902

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

112

27 February 1902

John Fox
Sarah Shillinglaw Brown

John Fox
Sarah Phillinghan Brown
💍 1912/4320

Widower
Spinster

Labourer

46 years
42 years

Caversham
Caversham

3 years
30 years

In the house of W. D. Brown

12/4187

27 February 1902

R. Fairmaid

No	112
Date of Notice	27 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Fox	Sarah Shillinglaw Brown
BDM Match (94%)	John Fox	Sarah Phillinghan Brown
	💍 1912/4320
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	46 years	42 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Caversham
Length of Residence	3 years	30 years
Marriage Place	In the house of W. D. Brown
Folio	12/4187
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1902
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

113

27 February 1902

Thomas Horace Hamill
Georgina Lillian Glendinning

Thomas Horace Hamill
Georgina Lillian Glendinning
💍 1912/2273

Bachelor
Spinster

Yardman

22 years
20 years

Dunedin
South Dunedin

1 year
10 years

In the house of W. G. Glendinning

12/1663

W. G. Glendinning, father

27 February 1902

R. Fairmaid

No	113
Date of Notice	27 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Horace Hamill	Georgina Lillian Glendinning
	💍 1912/2273
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Yardman
Age	22 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 year	10 years
Marriage Place	In the house of W. G. Glendinning
Folio	12/1663
Consent	W. G. Glendinning, father
Date of Certificate	27 February 1902
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

114

27 February 1902

Robert McKenzie
Annie Doyle

Robert McKenzie
Annie Doyle
💍 1912/1224

Bachelor
Spinster

Reader
Hoodmaker

24 years
23 years

Dunedin
South Dunedin

24 years
23 years

In the Presbyterian Church, Queen's Drive, St. Kilda

12/943

27 February 1902

A. S. Allan

No	114
Date of Notice	27 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert McKenzie	Annie Doyle
	💍 1912/1224
	💍 1912/1224
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Reader	Hoodmaker
Age	24 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	24 years	23 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church, Queen's Drive, St. Kilda
Folio	12/943
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1902
Officiating Minister	A. S. Allan

115

28 February 1902

George Heads
Annie Cory

George Heads
Annie Cory
💍 1912/627

Bachelor
Spinster

Dealer

37 years
24 years

North East Valley
North East Valley

3 weeks
3 months

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

12/249

28 February 1902

H. Maxwell

No	115
Date of Notice	28 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Heads	Annie Cory
	💍 1912/627
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dealer
Age	37 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	North East Valley	North East Valley
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 months
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	12/249
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1902
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

116

28 February 1902

Frederick Hoffmann
Ellen Josephine Reed

Frederick Hoffmann
Ellen Josephine Reid
💍 1912/628

Widower
Spinster

Pianoforte Tuner

37 years
24 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

37 years
24 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

12/250

28 February 1902

H. Maxwell

No	116
Date of Notice	28 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Hoffmann	Ellen Josephine Reed
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Hoffmann	Ellen Josephine Reid
	💍 1912/628
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Pianoforte Tuner
Age	37 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	37 years	24 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	12/250
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1902
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

117

29 February 1902

John Russell
Mary Ann Letcher Smith

John Russell
Mary Ann Letcher Smith
💍 1912/636

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

35 years
20 years

Otakou
Dunedin

35 years
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

12/251

John George Smith, father

29 February 1902

H. Maxwell

No	117
Date of Notice	29 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Russell	Mary Ann Letcher Smith
	💍 1912/636
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	35 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Otakou	Dunedin
Length of Residence	35 years	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	12/251
Consent	John George Smith, father
Date of Certificate	29 February 1902
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

118

29 February 1902

John Stewart Wellington Bunting
Jemima Crozier

John Stewart Wellington Bunting
Jemima Crozier
💍 1912/1218

Divorced
Spinster

Motorman

32 years
40 years

South Dunedin
Dunedin

7 years
25 years

In the house of Mr. C. Jones, 7 Smith Street, Dunedin

12/918

29 February 1902

D. J. Murray

No	118
Date of Notice	29 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stewart Wellington Bunting	Jemima Crozier
	💍 1912/1218
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Motorman
Age	32 years	40 years
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 years	25 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. C. Jones, 7 Smith Street, Dunedin
Folio	12/918
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 February 1902
Officiating Minister	D. J. Murray

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).