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 486

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

147

11 March 1913

Fred Berry
Sarah Anne Yates

Fred Berry
Sarah Anne Yates
💍 1913/2544

Widower
Spinster

builder
tailoress

40
49

Dunedin
St Kilda

4 months
4 years

Congregational Church, Caversham

13/2064

11 March 1913

W. J. Ashford

No	147
Date of Notice	11 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred Berry	Sarah Anne Yates
	💍 1913/2544
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	builder	tailoress
Age	40	49
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	St Kilda
Length of Residence	4 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Caversham
Folio	13/2064
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1913
Officiating Minister	W. J. Ashford

148

11 March 1913

Thomas William White
Edith Ingram

Thomas William White
Edith Ingram
💍 1913/4796

Bachelor
Spinster

contractor
clerk

23
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 days
22 years

In the Baptist Church, Hanover Street, Dunedin

13/4397

11 March 1913

R. S. Gray

No	148
Date of Notice	11 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William White	Edith Ingram
	💍 1913/4796
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	contractor	clerk
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	22 years
Marriage Place	In the Baptist Church, Hanover Street, Dunedin
Folio	13/4397
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1913
Officiating Minister	R. S. Gray

149

12 March 1913

Stuart Alexander Moore
Jessie Saunders

Stuart Alexander Moore
Jessie Saunders
💍 1913/2340

Bachelor
Spinster

medical practitioner

35
30

Dunedin
Otautau

5 years
1 year

In the Church of England, Otautau

13/1832

12 March 1913

C. E. Webb

No	149
Date of Notice	12 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stuart Alexander Moore	Jessie Saunders
	💍 1913/2340
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	medical practitioner
Age	35	30
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Otautau
Length of Residence	5 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In the Church of England, Otautau
Folio	13/1832
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1913
Officiating Minister	C. E. Webb

150

12 March 1913

Charles Ernest Henry Shore
Margherita Louisa Shore

Charles Ernest Fleury
Margherita Louisa Shore
💍 1913/4765

Bachelor
Spinster

labourer

25
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

25 years
3 years

In the Maternity Hospital, Forth Street, Dunedin

13/4242

12 March 1913

E. A. Axelsen

No	150
Date of Notice	12 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Ernest Henry Shore	Margherita Louisa Shore
BDM Match (83%)	Charles Ernest Fleury	Margherita Louisa Shore
	💍 1913/4765
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	labourer
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	25 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the Maternity Hospital, Forth Street, Dunedin
Folio	13/4242
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1913
Officiating Minister	E. A. Axelsen

151

12 March 1913

William Henry Jackson
Amy Louisa Quinton

William Henry Jackson
Amy Louisa Quinton
💍 1913/1988

Bachelor
Spinster

warehouseman

23
23

Dunedin
Christchurch

2 years
3 months

In the Baptist Church, Elgin Street, Sydenham

13/1453

12 March 1913

J. A. Williams

No	151
Date of Notice	12 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Jackson	Amy Louisa Quinton
	💍 1913/1988
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	warehouseman
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	3 months
Marriage Place	In the Baptist Church, Elgin Street, Sydenham
Folio	13/1453
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1913
Officiating Minister	J. A. Williams

152

12 March 1913

John Teasdale Leech
Lillia May Jeffs

John Teasdale Lush
Lillia May Jeffs
💍 1913/2129

Bachelor
Spinster

brassfinisher

28
27

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
27 years

In St Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin

13/1594

12 March 1913

H. G. Gould

No	152
Date of Notice	12 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Teasdale Leech	Lillia May Jeffs
BDM Match (92%)	John Teasdale Lush	Lillia May Jeffs
	💍 1913/2129
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	brassfinisher
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	27 years
Marriage Place	In St Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	13/1594
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1913
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gould

153

12 March 1913

James Guthrie Hanson
Bertha Agatha Hanson

James Guthrie
Bertha Agatha Hanson
💍 1913/2760

Bachelor
Spinster

patternmaker

30
30

Dunedin
Dunedin

16 years
20 years

In the First Church, Dunedin

13/1706

12 March 1913

G. H. Balfour

No	153
Date of Notice	12 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Guthrie Hanson	Bertha Agatha Hanson
BDM Match (83%)	James Guthrie	Bertha Agatha Hanson
	💍 1913/2760
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	patternmaker
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	16 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the First Church, Dunedin
Folio	13/1706
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1913
Officiating Minister	G. H. Balfour

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).