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 025

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 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

760

16 September 1913

Albert Edward Hunt
Rosa Elizabeth Coulson

Albert Edward Hunt
Rosa Elizabeth Coulson
💍 1913/6810

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic duties

30
55

Hampstead, Alexandra South
Hampstead, Alexandra South

9 Months
3 days

St Stephen's Church, Ashburton

13/6248

16 September 1913

Rev. J. R. Burgin

No	760
Date of Notice	16 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Hunt	Rosa Elizabeth Coulson
	💍 1913/6810
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic duties
Age	30	55
Dwelling Place	Hampstead, Alexandra South	Hampstead, Alexandra South
Length of Residence	9 Months	3 days
Marriage Place	St Stephen's Church, Ashburton
Folio	13/6248
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Burgin

761

19 September 1913

John James Gully
Mary Hyland

John James Tully
Mary Hyland
💍 1913/6094

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

34
29

Tinwald
Ashburton

4 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

13/5670

19 September 1913

Dean O'Donnell

No	761
Date of Notice	19 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Gully	Mary Hyland
BDM Match (97%)	John James Tully	Mary Hyland
	💍 1913/6094
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	13/5670
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Dean O'Donnell

762

22 September 1913

Frank Porter
Olive Chapman

Frank Porter
Olive Chapman
💍 1913/8666

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic duties

23
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

23 years
24 years

Baring Square Church, Ashburton

8521

22 September 1913

Rev. W. J. Elliott

No	762
Date of Notice	22 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Porter	Olive Chapman
	💍 1913/8666
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	23 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Baring Square Church, Ashburton
Folio	8521
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Elliott

763

22 September 1913

Henry Arthur Mazey
Ellen Marian Kellahan

Henry Arthur Mazey
Ellen Marion Kellahan
💍 1913/6113

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's Assistant
Domestic duties

26
25

Ashburton
Ashburton

4 years
6 years

At the dwelling of Mrs Isabella Kellahan, Moor Street, Ashburton

13/5673

22 September 1913

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	763
Date of Notice	22 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Arthur Mazey	Ellen Marian Kellahan
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Arthur Mazey	Ellen Marion Kellahan
	💍 1913/6113
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's Assistant	Domestic duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of Mrs Isabella Kellahan, Moor Street, Ashburton
Folio	13/5673
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

764

24 September 1913

Robert Ernest Chamley
Lavinia Coldicott

Robert Ernest Chamley
Silenae Lavinia Coldicott
💍 1913/6809

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic duties

28
26

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
3 days

St Stephen's Church of England, Ashburton

13/6247

24 September 1913

Rev. J. R. Burgin

No	764
Date of Notice	24 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Ernest Chamley	Lavinia Coldicott
BDM Match (84%)	Robert Ernest Chamley	Silenae Lavinia Coldicott
	💍 1913/6809
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic duties
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Stephen's Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	13/6247
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Burgin

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).