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 058

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

145

1 March 1913

William Bishop
Deana Box

William Bishop
Diana Cox
💍 1913/779

Widower
Widow

Driver

42
40

Christchurch
Christchurch

over 20 years
Life

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

13/176

1 March 1913

Registrar

No	145
Date of Notice	1 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Bishop	Deana Box
BDM Match (89%)	William Bishop	Diana Cox
	💍 1913/779
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Driver
Age	42	40
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	over 20 years	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	13/176
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

146

3 March 1913

James Rupert Grange
Agnes Maud Trengrove

James Rupert Grange
Agnes Maud Trengrove
💍 1913/2365

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
25

Christchurch
Opawa

6 years
6 years

Mr. W. H. Trengrove's dwelling, 114 Opawa Rd.

13/1908

3 March 1913

Rev. J. Mackenzie

No	146
Date of Notice	3 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Rupert Grange	Agnes Maud Trengrove
	💍 1913/2365
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Opawa
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Mr. W. H. Trengrove's dwelling, 114 Opawa Rd.
Folio	13/1908
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Mackenzie

147

3 March 1913

Alfred Herbert Magson
Stella Lois Godbehear

Alfred Herbert Magson
Stella Lois Godbehear
💍 1913/790

Bachelor
Divorced

Accountant
Household duties

27
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 months
1 month

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

13/177

3 March 1913

Registrar

No	147
Date of Notice	3 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Herbert Magson	Stella Lois Godbehear
	💍 1913/790
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Accountant	Household duties
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 months	1 month
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	13/177
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

148

3 March 1913

Peter McDiarmid
Margaret Reese

Peter McDurmid
Margaret Reese
💍 1913/1955

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner

34
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 years
Life

House of Mrs. Reese, 336 Durham St.

13/1376

3 March 1913

Rev. T. McDonald

No	148
Date of Notice	3 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter McDiarmid	Margaret Reese
BDM Match (93%)	Peter McDurmid	Margaret Reese
	💍 1913/1955
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 years	Life
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. Reese, 336 Durham St.
Folio	13/1376
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. McDonald

149

4 March 1913

Samuel Burrows
Mary May Rolls

Samuel Burrows
Mary May Rolls
💍 1913/797

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

35
29

Prebbleton
Opawa

4 years
5 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

13/178

4 March 1913

Registrar

No	149
Date of Notice	4 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Burrows	Mary May Rolls
	💍 1913/797
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	35	29
Dwelling Place	Prebbleton	Opawa
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	13/178
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

150

4 March 1913

Edward Duckworth Brown
Nellie Dash

Edward Duckworth Brown
Nellie Dash
💍 1913/1888

Bachelor
Spinster

Implement maker

29
27

Hillmorton
Spreydon

29 years
27 years

House of Mr. Chas. Dash, 204 Lincoln Rd, Spreydon

13/1403

4 March 1913

Mr. J. Laird

No	150
Date of Notice	4 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Duckworth Brown	Nellie Dash
	💍 1913/1888
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Implement maker
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Hillmorton	Spreydon
Length of Residence	29 years	27 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Chas. Dash, 204 Lincoln Rd, Spreydon
Folio	13/1403
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Mr. J. Laird

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).