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 346

District of Temuka [?] Quarter ending 30 June 1913 Registrar A. Roberts

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

26 April 1913

Matthew Newsome Swap
Olive Sarah Higinbottom

Matthew Newsome Swap
Olive Sarah Higinbottom
💍 1913/4669

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic duties

26
19

Temuka
Temuka

2 years
19 years

Residence of G. H. Higinbottom, Temuka

13/471

G. H. Higinbottom, Father

26 April 1913

Rev. A. Hardy Couch

No	11
Date of Notice	26 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Newsome Swap	Olive Sarah Higinbottom
	💍 1913/4669
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic duties
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	2 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of G. H. Higinbottom, Temuka
Folio	13/471
Consent	G. H. Higinbottom, Father
Date of Certificate	26 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hardy Couch

28 April 1913

Edward Tarrant
Margaret Moriarty

Edward Tarrant
Margaret Moriarty
💍 1913/6472

Bachelor
Spinster

Dealer
Domestic duties

28
21

Temuka
Temuka

6 years
1 year

Roman Catholic Church, Temuka

13/6182

28 April 1913

Rev. F. Kerley

No	12
Date of Notice	28 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Tarrant	Margaret Moriarty
	💍 1913/6472
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dealer	Domestic duties
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	6 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Temuka
Folio	13/6182
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Kerley

2 May 1913

John Stephen Hayes
Hanora Ellen O'Loughlin

John Stephen Hayes
Hanora Ellen O'Loughton
💍 1913/6471

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

34
27

Temuka
Temuka

18 months
5 years

Roman Catholic Church, Temuka

13/6181

2 May 1913

Rev. F. Kerley

No	13
Date of Notice	2 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stephen Hayes	Hanora Ellen O'Loughlin
BDM Match (96%)	John Stephen Hayes	Hanora Ellen O'Loughton
	💍 1913/6471
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	18 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Temuka
Folio	13/6181
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Kerley

19 May 1913

Robert John Thistleton
Johanna O'Connell

Robert John Thistleton
Johanna O'Connell
💍 1913/6470

Bachelor
Spinster

Livery Stablekeeper
Domestic duties

28
27

Temuka
Temuka

6 years
6 years

Roman Catholic Church, Temuka

13/6180

19 May 1913

Rev. F. Kerley

No	14
Date of Notice	19 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert John Thistleton	Johanna O'Connell
	💍 1913/6470
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Livery Stablekeeper	Domestic duties
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Temuka
Folio	13/6180
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 May 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Kerley

30 May 1913

John William Archibald
Ellen Jane Bennett

John William Archibald
Ellen Jane Bennett
💍 1913/4225

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
22

Temuka
Temuka

9 months
22 years

Presbyterian Church, Temuka

13/3774

30 May 1913

Rev. C. Macdonald

No	15
Date of Notice	30 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Archibald	Ellen Jane Bennett
	💍 1913/4225
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	9 months	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Temuka
Folio	13/3774
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Macdonald

10 June 1913

Patrick Henry Lynch
Norah McAuliffe

Patrick Henry Lynch
Norah McAuliffe
💍 1913/6468

Bachelor
Spinster

Brickmaker
Domestic duties

30
38

Temuka
Temuka

14 days
30 years

Roman Catholic Church, Temuka

13/6179

10 June 1913

Rev. F. Kerley

No	16
Date of Notice	10 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Henry Lynch	Norah McAuliffe
	💍 1913/6468
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brickmaker	Domestic duties
Age	30	38
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	14 days	30 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Temuka
Folio	13/6179
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Kerley

14 June 1913

Elijah Beattie
Margaret Honorah Beattie (Moore)

Elijah Beattie
Margaret Hanorah Moore
💍 1913/6467

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

32
28

Temuka
Temuka

3 days
28 years

Roman Catholic Church, Temuka

13/6178

14 June 1913

Rev. F. Kerley

No	17
Date of Notice	14 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Elijah Beattie	Margaret Honorah Beattie (Moore)
BDM Match (83%)	Elijah Beattie	Margaret Hanorah Moore
	💍 1913/6467
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Temuka
Folio	13/6178
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Kerley

25 June 1913

Stanley John Clinch
Annie Emma Richardson

Stanley John Clinch
Annie Emma Richardson
💍 1913/4224

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic

23
17

Temuka
Orari

23 years
17 years

Presbyterian Manse, Temuka

13/3773

Benjamin Richardson, Father

25 June 1913

Rev. C. Macdonald

No	18
Date of Notice	25 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley John Clinch	Annie Emma Richardson
	💍 1913/4224
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic
Age	23	17
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Orari
Length of Residence	23 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Temuka
Folio	13/3773
Consent	Benjamin Richardson, Father
Date of Certificate	25 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Macdonald

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).