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 054

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1913 Registrar Frank Evans

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

121

22 February 1913

Reuben Henry Trewern
Rosina May Crocher

Reuben Henry Treween
Rosina May Crocker
💍 1913/1897

Bachelor
Spinster

Tramway Employee

27
24

Woolston
Linwood Woolston

27 years
24 years

St. Johns Church Christchurch

13/1436

22 February 1913

Rev H. Punches

No	121
Date of Notice	22 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reuben Henry Trewern	Rosina May Crocher
BDM Match (95%)	Reuben Henry Treween	Rosina May Crocker
	💍 1913/1897
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tramway Employee
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Linwood Woolston
Length of Residence	27 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Johns Church Christchurch
Folio	13/1436
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev H. Punches

122

22 February 1913

William Henry Stewart
Ada Augusta Smalley

William Henry Stewart
Ada Agusta Smalley
💍 1913/1982

Bachelor
Spinster

Horse Conductor
Nurse

23
27

Christchurch
Masham

Life
Life

Wesleyan Church

13/1470

22 February 1913

Rev. A. Peters

No	122
Date of Notice	22 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Stewart	Ada Augusta Smalley
BDM Match (97%)	William Henry Stewart	Ada Agusta Smalley
	💍 1913/1982
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Horse Conductor	Nurse
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Masham
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church
Folio	13/1470
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Peters

123

22 February 1913

Frederick Whall
Margaret McKinnon

Frederick Whale
Margaret McKinnon
💍 1913/1962

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter

28
26

Woolston
Woolston

5 years
1 1/2 years

St. Peters Church Woolston

13/1377

22 February 1913

Rev. J. McDonald

No	123
Date of Notice	22 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Whall	Margaret McKinnon
BDM Match (97%)	Frederick Whale	Margaret McKinnon
	💍 1913/1962
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Woolston
Length of Residence	5 years	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church Woolston
Folio	13/1377
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McDonald

124

22 February 1913

Heinrich Auguste Bourgeois
Alice Emma Whittington

Heinrich August Bourgeois
Alice Emma Whittington
💍 1913/4533

Bachelor
Spinster

Car & Wagon Lifter
Dressmaker

23
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
3 years

St. Saviours Church Sydenham

13/4110

Charles Whittington, Father

22 February 1913

Rev. P. J. Cocks

No	124
Date of Notice	22 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Heinrich Auguste Bourgeois	Alice Emma Whittington
BDM Match (98%)	Heinrich August Bourgeois	Alice Emma Whittington
	💍 1913/4533
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Car & Wagon Lifter	Dressmaker
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviours Church Sydenham
Folio	13/4110
Consent	Charles Whittington, Father
Date of Certificate	22 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks

125

24 February 1913

Charles Opie
Katherine Brown Finlay

Charles Opie
Katherine Brown Finlay
💍 1913/800

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Manager
Dressmaker

22
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

9 days
9 days

Office of Registrar Christchurch

13/181

24 February 1913

Registrar

No	125
Date of Notice	24 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Opie	Katherine Brown Finlay
	💍 1913/800
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Manager	Dressmaker
Age	22	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 days	9 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar Christchurch
Folio	13/181
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

126

24 February 1913

George Henry Walker
Lilly Bragge

George Henry Walker
Lily Bragge
💍 1913/4534

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

31
29

Sydenham
Sydenham

3 days
2 weeks

St. Saviours Church Sydenham

13/4111

24 February 1913

Rev. P. J. Cocks

No	126
Date of Notice	24 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Walker	Lilly Bragge
BDM Match (96%)	George Henry Walker	Lily Bragge
	💍 1913/4534
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Saviours Church Sydenham
Folio	13/4111
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks

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).