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 288

District of Mount Cook Quarter ending 30 June 1913 Registrar James John France

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

15 April 1913

William John Walkins
Mary Margaret Allison

William John Watkins
Mary Margaret Allison
💍 1913/4165

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic

28
20

Amberley
Fairlie

4 Days
1 Year

Residence of G.W. Crampton

13/3740

William Allison, Father of Bride

15 April 1913

Rev. H. Robert

No	5
Date of Notice	15 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Walkins	Mary Margaret Allison
BDM Match (98%)	William John Watkins	Mary Margaret Allison
	💍 1913/4165
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Amberley	Fairlie
Length of Residence	4 Days	1 Year
Marriage Place	Residence of G.W. Crampton
Folio	13/3740
Consent	William Allison, Father of Bride
Date of Certificate	15 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Robert

16 April 1913

Henry Rapsey Struthers
Mary Jane Ross

Henry Rapsey Struthers
Mary Jane Ross
💍 1913/4226

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic

29
28

Fairlie
Kimbell

27 years
27 years

Residence of Mr. Ross

13/3752

6 April 1913

Rev. J. Craig

No	6
Date of Notice	16 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Rapsey Struthers	Mary Jane Ross
	💍 1913/4226
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Fairlie	Kimbell
Length of Residence	27 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Ross
Folio	13/3752
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Craig

18 April 1913

August Edward Robert Palenski
Eleanor Prescilla Fogarty

August Edward Robert Palenski
Eleanor Priscilla Fogarty
💍 1913/4164

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

35
26

Kocke
Fairlie

3 Months
1 Year

Church of England, Fairlie

13/3739

18 April 1913

Rev. H.N. Roberts

No	7
Date of Notice	18 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	August Edward Robert Palenski	Eleanor Prescilla Fogarty
BDM Match (98%)	August Edward Robert Palenski	Eleanor Priscilla Fogarty
	💍 1913/4164
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	Kocke	Fairlie
Length of Residence	3 Months	1 Year
Marriage Place	Church of England, Fairlie
Folio	13/3739
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. H.N. Roberts

13 May 1913

John Denniston Lochore
Maude Beatrice Slow

John Denniston Lochore
Maude Beatrice Slow
💍 1913/4219

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic

21
23

Timaru
Timaru

Life
3 years

Mr. Slows Residence, Gore Road, Fairlie

13/3751

13 May 1913

Rev. John Craig

No	8
Date of Notice	13 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Denniston Lochore	Maude Beatrice Slow
	💍 1913/4219
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	Life	3 years
Marriage Place	Mr. Slows Residence, Gore Road, Fairlie
Folio	13/3751
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Craig

23 May 1913

Edmond Coma
Violet Isabella Anderson

Edmond O'Connor
Violet Isabella Anderson
💍 1913/4208

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

26
20

Fairlie
Fairlie

5 years
3 years

Roman Catholic Church, Fairlie

13/3750

William Henry Anderson, Father of bride

23 May 1913

Rev. A. Le Petit

No	9
Date of Notice	23 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmond Coma	Violet Isabella Anderson
BDM Match (80%)	Edmond O'Connor	Violet Isabella Anderson
	💍 1913/4208
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Fairlie	Fairlie
Length of Residence	5 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Fairlie
Folio	13/3750
Consent	William Henry Anderson, Father of bride
Date of Certificate	23 May 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Le Petit

30 May 1913

William Alexander Gudsell
Elma Johanna Person

William Alexander Gudsell
Ebrina Johanna Person
💍 1913/4175

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Domestic

27
24

Albury
Albury

4 days
4 Days

Residence of Thomas Gudsell

13/3749

31 May 1913

Rev. P. Wilson

No	10
Date of Notice	30 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Gudsell	Elma Johanna Person
BDM Match (91%)	William Alexander Gudsell	Ebrina Johanna Person
	💍 1913/4175
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Albury	Albury
Length of Residence	4 days	4 Days
Marriage Place	Residence of Thomas Gudsell
Folio	13/3749
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Wilson

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).