Intentions to Marry, 1913 Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840453, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1913 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki (1913a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1913b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1913c).

Page 009

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1913 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

683

6 January 1913

Thomas Russell
Elizabeth Jane Forgeson

Thomas Russell Raymond
Elizabeth Jane Forgeson
💍 1913/927

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

40
34

Tinwald
Tinwald

3 years
15 months

Office of the Registrar

13/326

6 January 1913

W. W. White, Registrar

No	683
Date of Notice	6 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Russell	Elizabeth Jane Forgeson
BDM Match (82%)	Thomas Russell Raymond	Elizabeth Jane Forgeson
	💍 1913/927
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	40	34
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Tinwald
Length of Residence	3 years	15 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar
Folio	13/326
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1913
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

684

8 January 1913

Francis Joseph Haurahan
Helen Berry

Francis Joseph Hanrahan
Helen Berry
💍 1913/4854

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

35
28

Dromore
Allenton

25 years
3 years

Catholic Church

13/4407

8 January 1913

Rev. J. J. Haurahan

No	684
Date of Notice	8 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Joseph Haurahan	Helen Berry
BDM Match (98%)	Francis Joseph Hanrahan	Helen Berry
	💍 1913/4854
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Dromore	Allenton
Length of Residence	25 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church
Folio	13/4407
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Haurahan

685

23 January 1913

James Smith
Jean Lindsay

James Smith
Jean Lindsay
💍 1913/938

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

41
32

Ashburton
Ashburton

30 years
32 years

Office of the Registrar

13/327

23 January 1913

W. W. White

No	685
Date of Notice	23 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Smith	Jean Lindsay
	💍 1913/938
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	41	32
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	30 years	32 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar
Folio	13/327
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1913
Officiating Minister	W. W. White

686

28 January 1913

James Sutherland
Edith Gwendoline Hall

James Sutherland
Edith Gwendoline Hall
💍 1913/1842

Bachelor
Spinster

Guard N.Z.R.
domestic duties

27
23

Fairlie
Ashburton

3 days
5 years

At the dwelling of Mrs. Hall, 5 Cass Street

13/132

28 January 1913

Rev. J. Woollospall

No	686
Date of Notice	28 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Sutherland	Edith Gwendoline Hall
	💍 1913/1842
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Guard N.Z.R.	domestic duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Fairlie	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of Mrs. Hall, 5 Cass Street
Folio	13/132
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Woollospall

689

28 January 1913

Albert Johns Browne
Margaret Ellen Browne

Albert Johns
Margaret Ellen Crowe
💍 1913/4855

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
domestic duties

24
14

Dromore
Dromore

9 years
4 years

Catholic Presbytery

13/4408

Anthony O'Donnell, father of Minor

28 January 1913

Dean O'Donnell

No	689
Date of Notice	28 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Johns Browne	Margaret Ellen Browne
BDM Match (77%)	Albert Johns	Margaret Ellen Crowe
	💍 1913/4855
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	domestic duties
Age	24	14
Dwelling Place	Dromore	Dromore
Length of Residence	9 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Presbytery
Folio	13/4408
Consent	Anthony O'Donnell, father of Minor
Date of Certificate	28 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Dean O'Donnell

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).