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 011

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1912 Registrar William Morrison

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

617

6 February 1912

William Thomas Rollinson
Ada Mary Coyne

William Thomas Rollinson
Ada Mary Coyne
💍 1912/4243

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic duties

30
22

Westerfield
Westerfield

11 years
5 years

Church of England Lagmhor

12/4085

6 February 1912

Rev. R. G. Fooke

No	617
Date of Notice	6 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Rollinson	Ada Mary Coyne
	💍 1912/4243
	💍 1912/4243
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Westerfield	Westerfield
Length of Residence	11 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Lagmhor
Folio	12/4085
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. G. Fooke

618

8 February 1912

Edwin George Craighead
Mary Ann Peter Morris Ferris

Edwin George Craighead
Mary Ann Peter Morris Terris
💍 1912/1555

Widower
Spinster

Tailor
Domestic duties

40
36

Ashburton
Ashburton

58 years
14 years

at the dwelling of A Mitchell Walker St Ashburton

12/1260

8 February 1912

Rev G. B. Inglis

No	618
Date of Notice	8 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin George Craighead	Mary Ann Peter Morris Ferris
BDM Match (98%)	Edwin George Craighead	Mary Ann Peter Morris Terris
	💍 1912/1555
BDM Match (98%)	Edwin George Craighead	Mary Ann Peter Morris Terris
	💍 1912/1555
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Domestic duties
Age	40	36
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	58 years	14 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of A Mitchell Walker St Ashburton
Folio	12/1260
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev G. B. Inglis

619

15 February 1912

Ernest Frank Blank
Edna Isabel Brown

Ernest Frank Clark
Edna Isabel Brown
💍 1912/4242

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Domestic duties

24
19

Ashburton
Ashburton

4 years
14 years

at the dwelling of W. J. Brown at Ashburton

12/4084

William John Brown Father of Minor

15 February 1912

Rev. R. G. Fooke

No	619
Date of Notice	15 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Frank Blank	Edna Isabel Brown
BDM Match (94%)	Ernest Frank Clark	Edna Isabel Brown
	💍 1912/4242
BDM Match (94%)	Ernest Frank Clark	Edna Isabel Brown
	💍 1912/4242
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Domestic duties
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 years	14 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of W. J. Brown at Ashburton
Folio	12/4084
Consent	William John Brown Father of Minor
Date of Certificate	15 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. G. Fooke

620

16 February 1912

James Edward Moore
Jessie Maud Kelly

James Edward Moore
Jessie Maud Kelly
💍 1912/1556

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Engineer
Domestic duties

23
22

Ashburton
Ashburton

5 1/2 years
22 years

at the Manse Trevorrton Ashburton

12/1261

16 February 1912

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	620
Date of Notice	16 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Edward Moore	Jessie Maud Kelly
	💍 1912/1556
	💍 1912/1556
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	5 1/2 years	22 years
Marriage Place	at the Manse Trevorrton Ashburton
Folio	12/1261
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

621

20 February 1912

Francis Albert Dale
Florence Ethel Smith

Francis Albert Dale
Florence Ethel Smith
💍 1912/2022

Bachelor
Spinster

School Master
School Teacher

30
30

Christchurch
Ashburton

3 days
20 years

Baring Square Church Ashburton

12/1710

Ada Smith Mother of Minor

20 February 1912

Rev. D. J. Elliott

No	621
Date of Notice	20 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Albert Dale	Florence Ethel Smith
	💍 1912/2022
	💍 1912/2022
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Master	School Teacher
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Baring Square Church Ashburton
Folio	12/1710
Consent	Ada Smith Mother of Minor
Date of Certificate	20 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. J. Elliott

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).