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 224

District of Ellesmere Quarter ending 31 December 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

29/13

7 October 1913

Frank Kaill
Mary Ann Hannah

Frank Kaill
Mary Ann Hannah
💍 1913/8806

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

36
35

Killinchy
Southbridge

36 years
35 years

Church of England

8186

7 October 1913

Rev. H. G. Hawkins, Southbridge

No	29/13
Date of Notice	7 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Kaill	Mary Ann Hannah
	💍 1913/8806
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	36	35
Dwelling Place	Killinchy	Southbridge
Length of Residence	36 years	35 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	8186
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Hawkins, Southbridge

30/13

21 October 1913

Patrick McCloy
Ruby May Oneill

Patrick McCloy
Ruby May O'Neill
💍 1913/9124

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
23

Doyleston
Doyleston

24 years
23 years

Roman Catholic Church, Leeston

8779

21 October 1913

Rev. John Bowden, Leeston

No	30/13
Date of Notice	21 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick McCloy	Ruby May Oneill
BDM Match (94%)	Patrick McCloy	Ruby May O'Neill
	💍 1913/9124
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Doyleston	Doyleston
Length of Residence	24 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Leeston
Folio	8779
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Bowden, Leeston

31/13

31 October 1913

Robert George Bishop
Mary Simpson

Robert George Bishop
Mary Simpson
💍 1913/8946

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
34

Southbridge
Southbridge

26 years
34 years

Residence of Mr. George Frances Simpson, Southbridge

8325

31 October 1913

Rev. George Lindsay, Southbridge

No	31/13
Date of Notice	31 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert George Bishop	Mary Simpson
	💍 1913/8946
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	34
Dwelling Place	Southbridge	Southbridge
Length of Residence	26 years	34 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. George Frances Simpson, Southbridge
Folio	8325
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Lindsay, Southbridge

32/13

7 November 1913

Frederick George Early
Emma Grace Short

Frederick George Early
Emma Grace Sheat
💍 1913/8081

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
27

Greendale
Dunsandel

29 years
27 years

Methodist Manse, Dunsandel

7847

7 November 1913

Rev. T. A. Daugher, Leeston

No	32/13
Date of Notice	7 November 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick George Early	Emma Grace Short
BDM Match (94%)	Frederick George Early	Emma Grace Sheat
	💍 1913/8081
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Greendale	Dunsandel
Length of Residence	29 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Manse, Dunsandel
Folio	7847
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. A. Daugher, Leeston

33/13

5 December 1913

Alfred William Hurford
Mary Rothery

Alfred William Hurford
Mary Rothery
💍 1913/8829

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

32
31

Leeston
Doyleston

28 years
34 years

Church of England, Southbridge

8185

5 December 1913

Rev. H. G. Hawkins, Southbridge

No	33/13
Date of Notice	5 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred William Hurford	Mary Rothery
	💍 1913/8829
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Leeston	Doyleston
Length of Residence	28 years	34 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Southbridge
Folio	8185
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Hawkins, Southbridge

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).