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 023

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1912 Registrar William Winsbury White

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

669

31 October 1912

Michael Francis Mahoney
Olive Lucy Good

Michael Francis Mahoney
Olive Lucy Good
💍 1912/6865

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom
domestic duties

26
19

Allenton
Ashburton

56 years
14 years

Office of Registrar

12/19690

Elizabeth Thompson, mother of minor

31 October 1912

W. W. White, Registrar

No	669
Date of Notice	31 October 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Francis Mahoney	Olive Lucy Good
	💍 1912/6865
	💍 1912/6865
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom	domestic duties
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	56 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar
Folio	12/19690
Consent	Elizabeth Thompson, mother of minor
Date of Certificate	31 October 1912
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

670

9 November 1912

Ernest Edward Ede
Elizabeth Haar

Ernest Edward Ede
Elizabeth Haar
💍 1912/8971

Bachelor
Spinster

labourer
domestic duties

19
20

Allenton
Tinwald

9 years
6 years

at the dwelling of Johann Diederich Haar

12/799

Benjamin Ede, father of groom; Johann Diederich Haar, father of minor

9 November 1912

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	670
Date of Notice	9 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Edward Ede	Elizabeth Haar
	💍 1912/8971
	💍 1912/8971
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	labourer	domestic duties
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Tinwald
Length of Residence	9 years	6 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of Johann Diederich Haar
Folio	12/799
Consent	Benjamin Ede, father of groom; Johann Diederich Haar, father of minor
Date of Certificate	9 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

671

11 November 1912

George Henry Hampton
Ethel Kelly

George Henry Hampton
Ethel Kelly
💍 1912/8972

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

29
23

Braecroft
Treverton

29 years
23 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Ashburton

12/7986

11 November 1912

Rev. J. R. B. Woollospall

No	671
Date of Notice	11 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Hampton	Ethel Kelly
	💍 1912/8972
	💍 1912/8972
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Braecroft	Treverton
Length of Residence	29 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Ashburton
Folio	12/7986
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. B. Woollospall

672

13 November 1912

Percy Vernon Boot
Estelle Mary Fougaud

Percy Vernon Boot
Estelle Mary England
💍 1912/8975

Bachelor
Widow

Dentist
domestic duties

35
32

Ashburton
Ashburton

64 years
23 years

St. Stephen's Church of England, Ashburton

12/7989

13 November 1912

Rev. J. H. Burgin

No	672
Date of Notice	13 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Vernon Boot	Estelle Mary Fougaud
BDM Match (88%)	Percy Vernon Boot	Estelle Mary England
	💍 1912/8975
BDM Match (88%)	Percy Vernon Boot	Estelle Mary England
	💍 1912/8975
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Dentist	domestic duties
Age	35	32
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	64 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephen's Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	12/7989
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Burgin

673

15 November 1912

John Thomas Burgess
Katherine Rowena Burgess

John Thomas
Catherine Rowena Burgess
💍 1912/5559

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

23
25

Ashton
Tinwald

23 years
25 years

Baring Square Church, Ashburton

12/9069

15 November 1912

Rev. W. J. Elliott

No	673
Date of Notice	15 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Burgess	Katherine Rowena Burgess
BDM Match (77%)	John Thomas	Catherine Rowena Burgess
	💍 1912/5559
BDM Match (77%)	John Thomas	Catherine Rowena Burgess
	💍 1912/5559
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Ashton	Tinwald
Length of Residence	23 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Baring Square Church, Ashburton
Folio	12/9069
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Elliott

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).