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 056

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

133

25 February 1913

Frederick William Denton
Gladys Emily Cotton

Frederick William Denton
Gladys Emily Cotton
💍 1913/1884

Bachelor
Spinster

Nurse

47
26

Christchurch
Opawa

9 months
4 weeks

House of J. J. Cotton, 15 Reeves Rd, Opawa

13/1422

25 February 1913

Rev. H. Williams

No	133
Date of Notice	25 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Denton	Gladys Emily Cotton
	💍 1913/1884
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession		Nurse
Age	47	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Opawa
Length of Residence	9 months	4 weeks
Marriage Place	House of J. J. Cotton, 15 Reeves Rd, Opawa
Folio	13/1422
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams

134

25 February 1913

William Henry Jackson
Amy Louisa Quinton

William Henry Jackson
Amy Louisa Quinton
💍 1913/1988

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

23
23

Dunedin
Christchurch

3 years
3 months

Baptist Church, Sydenham

13/1453

25 February 1913

Rev. J. A. Williams

No	134
Date of Notice	25 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Jackson	Amy Louisa Quinton
	💍 1913/1988
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Sydenham
Folio	13/1453
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Williams

135

26 February 1913

John Cameron Campbell
Lilley Florence Macfarlane

John Cameron Campbell
Lilley Florence Macfarlane
💍 1913/1969

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Bookbinder

25
21

New Brighton
New Brighton

3 days
6 months

Church of England, New Brighton

13/1450

26 February 1913

Rev. H. J. Purchas

No	135
Date of Notice	26 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Cameron Campbell	Lilley Florence Macfarlane
	💍 1913/1969
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Bookbinder
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	New Brighton
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, New Brighton
Folio	13/1450
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Purchas

136

26 February 1913

Frank John Waldock
Jennie Lewis

Frank John Waldock Ell
Jennie Lewis
💍 1913/1905

Bachelor
Spinster

Bacon Curer

24
26

Hornby
Opawa

3 years
Life

St. Mark's Church, Opawa

13/1426

26 February 1913

Rev. H. Williams

No	136
Date of Notice	26 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank John Waldock	Jennie Lewis
BDM Match (91%)	Frank John Waldock Ell	Jennie Lewis
	💍 1913/1905
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bacon Curer
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Hornby	Opawa
Length of Residence	3 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Opawa
Folio	13/1426
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams

137

27 February 1913

Alfred Thomas Woodhead
Jean Ethel Anderson

Alfred Thomas Woodhead
Jean Ethel Anderson
💍 1913/1879

Widower
Spinster

Assurance Superintendent

40
31

Christchurch
St. Albans

6 days
6 days

St. Paul's Church, Christchurch

13/1418

27 February 1913

Rev. T. Tait

No	137
Date of Notice	27 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Thomas Woodhead	Jean Ethel Anderson
	💍 1913/1879
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Assurance Superintendent
Age	40	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St. Albans
Length of Residence	6 days	6 days
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	13/1418
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Tait

138

27 February 1913

William John Berg
Emma Elizabeth Ward

William John Berg
Emma Elizabeth Ward
💍 1913/798

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

33
27

Sydenham
Christchurch

20 years
27 years

Office of Registrar, Christchurch

13/179

27 February 1913

Registrar

No	138
Date of Notice	27 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Berg	Emma Elizabeth Ward
	💍 1913/798
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Christchurch
Folio	13/179
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).