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 216

District of Ellesmere Quarter ending 31 March 1913 Registrar Walter Abbott Mansell

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

1/13

6 January 1913

Robert Leonard Gant
Rawinia Henewai Maopo

Robert Leonard Cant
Rawinia Hinewai Maopo
💍 1913/948

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
21

Faumutu
Faumutu

25 years
21 years

Office of Registrar, Leeston

13/331

6 January 1913

T. A. Gransell, Registrar, Leeston

No	1/13
Date of Notice	6 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Leonard Gant	Rawinia Henewai Maopo
BDM Match (95%)	Robert Leonard Cant	Rawinia Hinewai Maopo
	💍 1913/948
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Faumutu	Faumutu
Length of Residence	25 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Leeston
Folio	13/331
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1913
Officiating Minister	T. A. Gransell, Registrar, Leeston

2/13

28 February 1913

Ernest Stall
Lily May Oliver

Ernest Hall
Lily May Oliver
💍 1913/1986

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom
Domestic Duties

28
27

Brookside
Brookside

12 years
3 years

Residence of Rev T. A. Joughin, Leeston

13/1414

28 February 1913

Rev T. A. Joughin, Leeston

No	2/13
Date of Notice	28 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Stall	Lily May Oliver
BDM Match (92%)	Ernest Hall	Lily May Oliver
	💍 1913/1986
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom	Domestic Duties
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Brookside	Brookside
Length of Residence	12 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev T. A. Joughin, Leeston
Folio	13/1414
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev T. A. Joughin, Leeston

3/13

5 March 1913

Herbert Hought Johnson
Edith Ethel Dray Sheat

Herbert Wright Johnson
Edith May Sheat
💍 1913/1985

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

20
20

Dunsandel
Dunsandel

9 years
20 years

Methodist Church, Dunsandel

13/1473

5 March 1913

Rev T. A. Joughin, Leeston

No	3/13
Date of Notice	5 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Hought Johnson	Edith Ethel Dray Sheat
BDM Match (75%)	Herbert Wright Johnson	Edith May Sheat
	💍 1913/1985
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Dunsandel	Dunsandel
Length of Residence	9 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Dunsandel
Folio	13/1473
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev T. A. Joughin, Leeston

4/13

20 March 1913

Albert Edward Jones
Alberta Nichols

Albert Edward Jones
Alberta Nichols
💍 1913/1917

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic Duties

29
25

Leeston
Christchurch

29 years
3 years

Durham Street Methodist Church, Christchurch

13/1432

20 March 1913

Rev B. H. Laves, Christchurch

No	4/13
Date of Notice	20 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Jones	Alberta Nichols
	💍 1913/1917
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic Duties
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Leeston	Christchurch
Length of Residence	29 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Durham Street Methodist Church, Christchurch
Folio	13/1432
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev B. H. Laves, Christchurch

5/13

28 March 1913

Henry Skinner
Edith Eva Ellenor Russell

Henry Skinner
Edith Eva Eleanor Russell
💍 1913/4026

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand
Domestic Duties

26
22

Brookside
Christchurch

12 years
3 days

Church of England, Sydenham, Christchurch

13/3575

28 March 1913

Rev P. G. Lock, Sydenham

No	5/13
Date of Notice	28 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Skinner	Edith Eva Ellenor Russell
BDM Match (96%)	Henry Skinner	Edith Eva Eleanor Russell
	💍 1913/4026
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand	Domestic Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Brookside	Christchurch
Length of Residence	12 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Sydenham, Christchurch
Folio	13/3575
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev P. G. Lock, Sydenham

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).