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 521

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 June 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

351

6 June 1913

Arthur Charles Thomson
Leah Gordon Miller

Arthur Charles Thomson
Leah Gordon Miller
💍 1913/4258

Bachelor
Spinster

medical practitioner

29
28

Maori Hill
Dunedin

1 week
25 years

In the house of Mr Peter Miller, 21 London Street, Dunedin

13/3800

6 June 1913

R. E. Davies

No	351
Date of Notice	6 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Charles Thomson	Leah Gordon Miller
	💍 1913/4258
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	medical practitioner
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Maori Hill	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 week	25 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr Peter Miller, 21 London Street, Dunedin
Folio	13/3800
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1913
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies

352

6 June 1913

William Robert Best
Annie Elizabeth Dawson

William Townsend
Annie Elizabeth Roulston
💍 1914/6917

Bachelor
Spinster

soapmaker

25
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
4 years

In Knox Church Manse, Dunedin

13/3801

6 June 1913

R. E. Davies

No	352
Date of Notice	6 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robert Best	Annie Elizabeth Dawson
BDM Match (66%)	William Townsend	Annie Elizabeth Roulston
	💍 1914/6917
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	soapmaker
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In Knox Church Manse, Dunedin
Folio	13/3801
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1913
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies

353

7 June 1913

Thomas Earl Gdanity
Emmie Louisa Scholty

Thomas Carl Gdanitz
Emmie Louisa Scholtz
💍 1913/6405

Bachelor
Spinster

labourer

32
30

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
10 days

In the Roman Catholic Church, North East Valley

13/6117

7 June 1913

J. J. O'Reilly

No	353
Date of Notice	7 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Earl Gdanity	Emmie Louisa Scholty
BDM Match (92%)	Thomas Carl Gdanitz	Emmie Louisa Scholtz
	💍 1913/6405
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	labourer
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	10 days
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church, North East Valley
Folio	13/6117
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1913
Officiating Minister	J. J. O'Reilly

354

7 June 1913

William John Jenkins Charters
Sarah Louisa Argue

William John Jenkins Charters
Sarah Louisa Argue
💍 1913/4374

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer

52
32

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 days
1 week

In St Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin

13/3874

7 June 1913

H. G. Gould

No	354
Date of Notice	7 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Jenkins Charters	Sarah Louisa Argue
	💍 1913/4374
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer
Age	52	32
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	1 week
Marriage Place	In St Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	13/3874
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1913
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gould

355

7 June 1913

William James Charnley
Elizabeth Pickworth

William James Charmley
Elizabeth Pickworth
💍 1913/518

Bachelor
Spinster

quarryman

26
16

Dunedin
Dunedin

26 years
3 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

13/2348

James Pickworth, father

7 June 1913

H. Maxwell

No	355
Date of Notice	7 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Charnley	Elizabeth Pickworth
BDM Match (98%)	William James Charmley	Elizabeth Pickworth
	💍 1913/518
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	quarryman
Age	26	16
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	26 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	13/2348
Consent	James Pickworth, father
Date of Certificate	7 June 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

356

9 June 1913

Frederick Walter Tilbury
Agnes Lavinia Coulter

Frederick Walter Tilbury
Agnes Lavinia Coulter
💍 1913/6383

Bachelor
Spinster

carrier

30
19

Dunedin
Dunedin

30 years
3 years

In the house of the Rev. E. A. Axelsen, 6 View Street, Dunedin

13/6111

David Coulter, father

9 June 1913

E. A. Axelsen

No	356
Date of Notice	9 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Walter Tilbury	Agnes Lavinia Coulter
	💍 1913/6383
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	carrier
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	30 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. E. A. Axelsen, 6 View Street, Dunedin
Folio	13/6111
Consent	David Coulter, father
Date of Certificate	9 June 1913
Officiating Minister	E. A. Axelsen

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).