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 013

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 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

704

3 April 1913

George Henry Sewell
Eliza Ann Whiting

George Henry Sewell
Eliza Ann Whiting
💍 1913/4229

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

23
21

Reservoir
Mayfield

6 Weeks
13 years

Wesleyan Church, Mayfield

13/3755

3 April 1913

Rev. F. H. Pritchett

No	704
Date of Notice	3 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Sewell	Eliza Ann Whiting
	💍 1913/4229
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Reservoir	Mayfield
Length of Residence	6 Weeks	13 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Mayfield
Folio	13/3755
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. H. Pritchett

705

5 April 1913

Ernest Wheeler
Mildred Ada McRae Aldridge

Ernest Wheeler Aldridge
Mildred Ada McRae
💍 1913/2944

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

28
19

Springburn
Springburn

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

13/2409

Thomas James Gerald, father of minor

5 April 1913

W. W. White, Registrar

No	705
Date of Notice	5 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Wheeler	Mildred Ada McRae Aldridge
BDM Match (63%)	Ernest Wheeler Aldridge	Mildred Ada McRae
	💍 1913/2944
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Springburn	Springburn
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	13/2409
Consent	Thomas James Gerald, father of minor
Date of Certificate	5 April 1913
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

706

4 April 1913

James Campbell
Alice May Davison

James Campbell
Alice May Davison
💍 1913/4116

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

25
26

Methven
Ashburton

3 days
56 years

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

13/3716

7 April 1913

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	706
Date of Notice	4 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Campbell	Alice May Davison
	💍 1913/4116
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Methven	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	56 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	13/3716
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

707

12 April 1913

Ernest Wright Sawle
Mary Rosabel Tarbotton

Ernest Wright Sawle
Mary Rosabel Tarbotton
💍 1913/4113

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

44
30

Ealing
Ealing

6 years
30 years

at the dwelling of Robert Tarbotton, Ealing

13/3713

15 April 1913

Rev. B. F. James

No	707
Date of Notice	12 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Wright Sawle	Mary Rosabel Tarbotton
	💍 1913/4113
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	44	30
Dwelling Place	Ealing	Ealing
Length of Residence	6 years	30 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of Robert Tarbotton, Ealing
Folio	13/3713
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. F. James

708

19 April 1913

Henry Wotten
Eliza Jemima Patterson

Henry Wotten
Eliza Jemima Patterson
💍 1913/4117

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

34
28

Ashton
Riverside

12 years
33 years

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

13/3717

19 April 1913

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	708
Date of Notice	19 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Wotten	Eliza Jemima Patterson
	💍 1913/4117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Ashton	Riverside
Length of Residence	12 years	33 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	13/3717
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

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).