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 222

District of Ellesmere Quarter ending 30 September 1913 Registrar W. 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

20/13

14 July 1913

Frances Patrick Brady
Doris Kathleen Sutherland

Francis Patrick Brady
Doris Kathleen Sutherland
💍 1913/5946

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Station-master
Domestic Duties

27
22

Dunsandel
Gordell

3 months
22 years

Residence of J. R. Archibald, Gordell

13/5456

14 July 1913

Rev. R. G. Evan, Gordell

No	20/13
Date of Notice	14 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frances Patrick Brady	Doris Kathleen Sutherland
BDM Match (98%)	Francis Patrick Brady	Doris Kathleen Sutherland
	💍 1913/5946
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Station-master	Domestic Duties
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Dunsandel	Gordell
Length of Residence	3 months	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. R. Archibald, Gordell
Folio	13/5456
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. G. Evan, Gordell

21/13

19 July 1913

Thomas Thompson
Elizabeth Margaret Hannah

Thomas Thompson
Elizabeth Hannah
💍 1913/6109

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

28
23

Leeston
Southbridge

28 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Southbridge

13/5692

19 July 1913

Rev. G. Lindsay, Southbridge

No	21/13
Date of Notice	19 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Thompson	Elizabeth Margaret Hannah
BDM Match (82%)	Thomas Thompson	Elizabeth Hannah
	💍 1913/6109
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Leeston	Southbridge
Length of Residence	28 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Southbridge
Folio	13/5692
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Lindsay, Southbridge

22/13

22 July 1913

John Eddy
Charlotte Elizabeth Skinner

John Eddy
Charlotte Elizabeth Skinner
💍 1913/5994

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
25

Lincoln
Dunsandel

2 years
14 years

Residence of Samuel Skinner, Dunsandel

13/5695

22 July 1913

Rev. T. A. Loughnan, Leeston

No	22/13
Date of Notice	22 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Eddy	Charlotte Elizabeth Skinner
	💍 1913/5994
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Lincoln	Dunsandel
Length of Residence	2 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Samuel Skinner, Dunsandel
Folio	13/5695
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. A. Loughnan, Leeston

23/13

29 July 1913

Eruera Pohan Ellison
Tine Drew Tararoa

Eruera Pohau Ellison
Tini Wiwi Taiaroa
💍 1913/6107

Bachelor
Spinster

Student
Domestic Duties

27
19

Dunsandel
Taumutu

3 years
19 years

Church of England, Sedgemere

13/5690

29 July 1913

Rev. C. A. Fraser, Taumutu

No	23/13
Date of Notice	29 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eruera Pohan Ellison	Tine Drew Tararoa
BDM Match (80%)	Eruera Pohau Ellison	Tini Wiwi Taiaroa
	💍 1913/6107
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Student	Domestic Duties
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Dunsandel	Taumutu
Length of Residence	3 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Sedgemere
Folio	13/5690
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Fraser, Taumutu

24/13

11 August 1913

Thomas Stabblesjam
Hannah Goodall Carr

Thomas Habberjam
Hannah Goodall Carr
💍 1913/6110

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

28
24

Doyleston
Southbridge

3 years
24 years

Presbyterian Church, Leeston

13/5693

11 August 1913

Rev. R. H. Blair, Leeston

No	24/13
Date of Notice	11 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Stabblesjam	Hannah Goodall Carr
BDM Match (89%)	Thomas Habberjam	Hannah Goodall Carr
	💍 1913/6110
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Doyleston	Southbridge
Length of Residence	3 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Leeston
Folio	13/5693
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Blair, Leeston

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).