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 226

District of Geraldine Quarter ending 31 March 1913 Registrar A. Andrews

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

897

4 January 1913

Patrick O'Boyle
Catherine Gregan

Patrick O'Boyle
Catherine Gregan
💍 1913/1994

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

36
37

Pleasant Valley
Pleasant Valley

9 days
9 years

Roman Catholic Church

13/1475

4 January 1913

Very Rev. H. G. Bowers, Roman Catholic

No	897
Date of Notice	4 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick O'Boyle	Catherine Gregan
	💍 1913/1994
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	36	37
Dwelling Place	Pleasant Valley	Pleasant Valley
Length of Residence	9 days	9 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	13/1475
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. H. G. Bowers, Roman Catholic

898

15 January 1913

Jack Nelson Hawkins
Lillian Jane Canavan

Jack Wilson Hawkins
Lilian Jane Canavan
💍 1913/949

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Domestic Duties

20
18

Orari
Orari

6 months
9 years

Registrar's Office, Geraldine

13/332

John Canavan, Father; June Canavan, Mother

15 January 1913

Mr. A. Andrews, Registrar

No	898
Date of Notice	15 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jack Nelson Hawkins	Lillian Jane Canavan
BDM Match (92%)	Jack Wilson Hawkins	Lilian Jane Canavan
	💍 1913/949
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Domestic Duties
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Orari	Orari
Length of Residence	6 months	9 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Geraldine
Folio	13/332
Consent	John Canavan, Father; June Canavan, Mother
Date of Certificate	15 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Mr. A. Andrews, Registrar

899

21 January 1913

Albert James Priddle
Ivy Davis

Albert James Priddle
Ivy Davis
💍 1913/2005

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Lady's Help

23
21

Belfield, Orari
Belfield

23 years
2 years

House of Mr. Albert Priddle, Belfield

13/1477

21 January 1913

Rev. Stephen Hamilton, Church of England

No	899
Date of Notice	21 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert James Priddle	Ivy Davis
	💍 1913/2005
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Lady's Help
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Belfield, Orari	Belfield
Length of Residence	23 years	2 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Albert Priddle, Belfield
Folio	13/1477
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Stephen Hamilton, Church of England

900

3 February 1913

Allan Gordon
Miriam Archibald Yates

Allan Loudon
Miriam Archibald Yates
💍 1913/2012

Bachelor
Spinster

Railwayman
Domestic Servant

23
29

Rangitata
Rangitata

5 days
4 months

School House, Rangitata

13/1478

3 February 1913

Rev. Stephen Hamilton, Church of England

No	900
Date of Notice	3 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Gordon	Miriam Archibald Yates
BDM Match (92%)	Allan Loudon	Miriam Archibald Yates
	💍 1913/2012
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railwayman	Domestic Servant
Age	23	29
Dwelling Place	Rangitata	Rangitata
Length of Residence	5 days	4 months
Marriage Place	School House, Rangitata
Folio	13/1478
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Stephen Hamilton, Church of England

901

8 March 1913

John Hollis Pace
Anne Percival Wooding

John Hollis Rice
Anne Percival Wooding
💍 1913/2013

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
18

Woodbury
Woodbury

6 years
18 years

St. Thomas' Church

13/1479

Joseph Wooding, Father

8 March 1913

Rev. Stephen Hamilton, Church of England

No	901
Date of Notice	8 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hollis Pace	Anne Percival Wooding
BDM Match (94%)	John Hollis Rice	Anne Percival Wooding
	💍 1913/2013
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Woodbury	Woodbury
Length of Residence	6 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' Church
Folio	13/1479
Consent	Joseph Wooding, Father
Date of Certificate	8 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Stephen Hamilton, Church of England

902

20 March 1913

William Toomey
Elizabeth Heath

William Toomey
Elizabeth Heath
💍 1913/2011

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

23
24

Nether
Geraldine

23 years
3 weeks

Victoria Hospital

13/1476

20 March 1913

Rev. H. Mann, Primitive Methodist

No	902
Date of Notice	20 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Toomey	Elizabeth Heath
	💍 1913/2011
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Nether	Geraldine
Length of Residence	23 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Victoria Hospital
Folio	13/1476
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Mann, Primitive Methodist

903

22 March 1913

John Ranson
Minnie Webb

John Ranson
Minnie Webb
💍 1913/4509

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

31
32

Woodbury
Woodbury

4 days
1 week

St. Thomas' Church

13/4161

22 March 1913

Rev. Stephen Hamilton, Church of England

No	903
Date of Notice	22 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ranson	Minnie Webb
	💍 1913/4509
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Woodbury	Woodbury
Length of Residence	4 days	1 week
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' Church
Folio	13/4161
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Stephen Hamilton, Church of England

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).