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 474

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1913 Registrar Henry Maxwell

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

10 February 1913

Edward Martin
Martha Steel

Edward Martin
Martha Steel
💍 1913/335

Divorced
Widow

labourer

38
35

Dunedin
Dunedin

30 years
17 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

13/217

10 February 1913

H. Maxwell

No	44
Date of Notice	10 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Martin	Martha Steel
	💍 1913/335
Condition	Divorced	Widow
Profession	labourer
Age	38	35
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	30 years	17 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	13/217
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

10 February 1913

Roy Victor Read
Charlotte Frances Margaret Black

Roy Victor Read
Charlotte Frances Margaret Clack
💍 1913/336

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer

23
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 weeks
3 weeks

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

13/210

mother

10 February 1913

H. Maxwell

No	45
Date of Notice	10 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Victor Read	Charlotte Frances Margaret Black
BDM Match (98%)	Roy Victor Read	Charlotte Frances Margaret Clack
	💍 1913/336
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	13/210
Consent	mother
Date of Certificate	10 February 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

11 February 1913

George Sutherland
Christina Allan

George Sutherland
Christina Allan
💍 1913/2524

Bachelor
Spinster

cheese-maker

26
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the house of the Rev. R. Fairmaid 33 Young Street St. Kilda

13/209

11 February 1913

R. Fairmaid

No	46
Date of Notice	11 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Sutherland	Christina Allan
	💍 1913/2524
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	cheese-maker
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. R. Fairmaid 33 Young Street St. Kilda
Folio	13/209
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1913
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

11 February 1913

Randolph Henderson
Grace Jemima Campbell

Randolph Henderson
Grace Jemima Campbell
💍 1913/2136

Bachelor
Spinster

plumber

27
23

Mornington
Dunedin

5 days
10 years

In the house of W. R. J. Henderson 14 St. Annes Road Mornington

13/1600

11 February 1913

W. Scorgie

No	47
Date of Notice	11 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Randolph Henderson	Grace Jemima Campbell
	💍 1913/2136
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	plumber
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 days	10 years
Marriage Place	In the house of W. R. J. Henderson 14 St. Annes Road Mornington
Folio	13/1600
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1913
Officiating Minister	W. Scorgie

11 February 1913

William Stewart
Lilian Adams McKenzie

William Stewart
Lilian Adams McKenzie
💍 1913/2758

Bachelor
Spinster

chemist
teacher

26
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
22 years

In the house of Mr. A. McKenzie 14 Maitland Street Dunedin

13/1704

11 February 1913

R. Waddell

No	48
Date of Notice	11 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stewart	Lilian Adams McKenzie
	💍 1913/2758
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	chemist	teacher
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. A. McKenzie 14 Maitland Street Dunedin
Folio	13/1704
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1913
Officiating Minister	R. Waddell

12 February 1913

Edward John McGarry
Violet Ellen Hatfield

Edward John McGarry
Violet Ellen Hatfield
💍 1913/2180

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer

28
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
4 days

In St. Joseph's Cathedral Dunedin

13/1652

12 February 1913

J. J. O'Reilly

No	49
Date of Notice	12 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward John McGarry	Violet Ellen Hatfield
	💍 1913/2180
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	4 days
Marriage Place	In St. Joseph's Cathedral Dunedin
Folio	13/1652
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1913
Officiating Minister	J. J. O'Reilly

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).