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 496

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

211

28 March 1913

Gilbert Baird Ogilvie
Ethel Rose Craig

Gilbert Baird Ogilvie
Ethel Rose Craig
💍 1913/4306

Bachelor
Spinster

company manager

41
23

Mornington
St Kilda

12 years
1 year

In the Congregational Church, Moray Place, Dunedin

13/383

28 March 1913

W. Saunders

No	211
Date of Notice	28 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Baird Ogilvie	Ethel Rose Craig
	💍 1913/4306
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	company manager
Age	41	23
Dwelling Place	Mornington	St Kilda
Length of Residence	12 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In the Congregational Church, Moray Place, Dunedin
Folio	13/383
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1913
Officiating Minister	W. Saunders

212

28 March 1913

Ralph Rylance Aspinall
Christina Jane Tyrie

Ralph Rylance Aspinall
Christina Jane Tyrie
💍 1913/2182

Bachelor
Spinster

solicitor

24
29

Dunedin
Andersons Bay

9 years
15 years

In St Matthew's Church, Dunedin

13/167

28 March 1913

W. Curzon Siggers

No	212
Date of Notice	28 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ralph Rylance Aspinall	Christina Jane Tyrie
	💍 1913/2182
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	solicitor
Age	24	29
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Andersons Bay
Length of Residence	9 years	15 years
Marriage Place	In St Matthew's Church, Dunedin
Folio	13/167
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1913
Officiating Minister	W. Curzon Siggers

213

29 March 1913

Watson Abram
Isabella Lamb

Watson Abram
Isabella Lamb
💍 1913/826

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer

50
30

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 days
5 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

13/234

29 March 1913

H. Maxwell

No	213
Date of Notice	29 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Watson Abram	Isabella Lamb
	💍 1913/826
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer
Age	50	30
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	13/234
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

214

29 March 1913

Alexander Valentine Walquist
Margaret Elizabeth Brown

Alexander Valentine Walquist
Margaret Elizabeth Brown
💍 1913/4770

Bachelor
Divorced

labourer

33
40

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the house of the Rev. E. A. Axelsen, 41 Clyde Street, Dunedin

13/4246

29 March 1913

E. A. Axelsen

No	214
Date of Notice	29 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Valentine Walquist	Margaret Elizabeth Brown
	💍 1913/4770
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	labourer
Age	33	40
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. E. A. Axelsen, 41 Clyde Street, Dunedin
Folio	13/4246
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1913
Officiating Minister	E. A. Axelsen

215

29 March 1913

Henry Francis Knight
Elsie May Smith

Henry Francis Knight
Elsie May Smith
💍 1913/827

Bachelor
Spinster

drainer

25
23

South Dunedin
South Dunedin

5 months
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

13/235

29 March 1913

H. Maxwell

No	215
Date of Notice	29 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Francis Knight	Elsie May Smith
	💍 1913/827
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	drainer
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 months	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	13/235
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

216

31 March 1913

Nelson Hendra
Jane Brayzer

Nelson Hendra
Jane Brayzer
💍 1913/4371

Bachelor
Spinster

carpenter

25
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

15 years
4 years

In St Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin

13/3871

31 March 1913

H. G. Gould

No	216
Date of Notice	31 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nelson Hendra	Jane Brayzer
	💍 1913/4371
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	carpenter
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	15 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In St Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	13/3871
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1913
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gould

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).