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 480

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

111

25 February 1913

John Stewart
Annie Elizabeth Hunter Bagshaw

John Stewart
Annie Elizabeth Hunter Bagshaw
💍 1913/2054

Bachelor
Spinster

draper

21
22

Roslyn
Roslyn

20 months
7 years

In the house of Rev. J. W. Vealie, 56 Laurence Street, Mornington

13/1618

25 February 1913

J. W. Vealie

No	111
Date of Notice	25 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stewart	Annie Elizabeth Hunter Bagshaw
	💍 1913/2054
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	draper
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Roslyn
Length of Residence	20 months	7 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Rev. J. W. Vealie, 56 Laurence Street, Mornington
Folio	13/1618
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1913
Officiating Minister	J. W. Vealie

112

25 February 1913

Thomas Shenton
Sarah Catherine McNab

Thomas Shenton Anchor
Sarah Catherine McNab
💍 1913/340

Bachelor
Not heard of husband alive for 5 years past

seaman

38
33

St Kilda
St Kilda

3 days
5 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

13/222

25 February 1913

H. Maxwell

No	112
Date of Notice	25 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Shenton	Sarah Catherine McNab
BDM Match (83%)	Thomas Shenton Anchor	Sarah Catherine McNab
	💍 1913/340
Condition	Bachelor	Not heard of husband alive for 5 years past
Profession	seaman
Age	38	33
Dwelling Place	St Kilda	St Kilda
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	13/222
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

113

25 February 1913

John Thomas Muir Aitchison
Jane Jones

John Thomas Muir Aitchison
Jane Jones
💍 1913/341

Thomas Cotton
Janet Jones
💍 1913/5718

Bachelor
Spinster

labourer

22
20

Dunedin
Roslyn

6 years
10 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

13/223

Wilkinson, guardian

25 February 1913

H. Maxwell

No	113
Date of Notice	25 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Muir Aitchison	Jane Jones
	💍 1913/341
BDM Match (65%)	Thomas Cotton	Janet Jones
	💍 1913/5718
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	labourer
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Roslyn
Length of Residence	6 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	13/223
Consent	Wilkinson, guardian
Date of Certificate	25 February 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

114

25 February 1913

Alexander Robertson
Beatrice Berryman

Alexander Robertson
Beatrice Berryman
💍 1913/2763

Bachelor
Spinster

labourer

28
27

Dunedin
Maori Hill

6 years
2 months

In the Methodist Church, Dundas Street, Dunedin

13/1709

25 February 1913

G. R. Smith

No	114
Date of Notice	25 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Robertson	Beatrice Berryman
	💍 1913/2763
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	labourer
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Maori Hill
Length of Residence	6 years	2 months
Marriage Place	In the Methodist Church, Dundas Street, Dunedin
Folio	13/1709
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1913
Officiating Minister	G. R. Smith

115

26 February 1913

William Webster
Margaret Ellis

William Webster
Margaret Ellis
💍 1913/2217

Bachelor
Spinster

striker

27
27

Dunedin
Dunedin

27 years
11 years

In the house of Mrs. A. E. Ellis, 47 Fitzroy Street, Caversham

13/1683

26 February 1913

E. Drake

No	115
Date of Notice	26 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Webster	Margaret Ellis
	💍 1913/2217
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	striker
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	27 years	11 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs. A. E. Ellis, 47 Fitzroy Street, Caversham
Folio	13/1683
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1913
Officiating Minister	E. Drake

116

26 February 1913

Alexander Francis McDonnell
Ivy Janet Freeman

Alexander Francis McDonnell
Ivy Janet Freeman
💍 1913/342

Bachelor
Spinster

bookseller

43
23

Dunedin
Roslyn

43 years
23 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

13/224

26 February 1913

H. Maxwell

No	116
Date of Notice	26 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Francis McDonnell	Ivy Janet Freeman
	💍 1913/342
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	bookseller
Age	43	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Roslyn
Length of Residence	43 years	23 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	13/224
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

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).