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 015

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

714

26 April 1913

John James Martin
Catherine Talbot Harold

John James Martin
Catherine Talbot Harold
💍 1913/4118

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
domestic duties

27
22

Fairton
Fairton

27 years
22 years

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church

13/3718

26 April 1913

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	714
Date of Notice	26 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Martin	Catherine Talbot Harold
	💍 1913/4118
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	domestic duties
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Fairton	Fairton
Length of Residence	27 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church
Folio	13/3718
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

715

29 April 1913

John Alexander Anderson
Georgina Taylor

John Alexander Anderson
Georgina Taylor
💍 1913/4124

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

33
24

Henington
Wakanui

30 years
24 years

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church

13/3723

29 April 1913

Rev. J. A. Brown

No	715
Date of Notice	29 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander Anderson	Georgina Taylor
	💍 1913/4124
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Henington	Wakanui
Length of Residence	30 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church
Folio	13/3723
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Brown

716

30 April 1913

William Edward Pearce
Catherine Shaw

William Edward Pearce
Catherine Shaw
💍 1913/4120

Bachelor
Spinster

No Occupation
domestic duties

56
38

Christchurch
Ashburton

3 days
34 years

at the dwelling of Alexander Shaw, Ashburton

13/3719

30 April 1913

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	716
Date of Notice	30 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Pearce	Catherine Shaw
	💍 1913/4120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	No Occupation	domestic duties
Age	56	38
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	34 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of Alexander Shaw, Ashburton
Folio	13/3719
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

717

10 May 1913

Ernest George Hayward
Sarah Ellen Oakley

Ernest George Hayward
Sarah Ellen Oakley
💍 1913/4125

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

39
31

Rakaia
Mayfield

22 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Mayfield

13/3724

10 May 1913

Rev. James Wilson

No	717
Date of Notice	10 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest George Hayward	Sarah Ellen Oakley
	💍 1913/4125
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	39	31
Dwelling Place	Rakaia	Mayfield
Length of Residence	22 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Mayfield
Folio	13/3724
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 May 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Wilson

718

10 May 1913

William Alfred Clothier
Jessie Hill

William Alfred Clothier
Jessie Lill
💍 1913/4176

Bachelor
Spinster

Wheel-wright
domestic duties

22
24

Invercargill
Willowby

3 days
24 years

Methodist Church, Willowby

13/3727

10 May 1913

Rev. James Booker

No	718
Date of Notice	10 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alfred Clothier	Jessie Hill
BDM Match (95%)	William Alfred Clothier	Jessie Lill
	💍 1913/4176
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wheel-wright	domestic duties
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Willowby
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Willowby
Folio	13/3727
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 May 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Booker

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).