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 531

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 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

406

11 July 1913

James Beveridge Moodie
Margaret Eleanor Creed

James Beveridge Moodie
Margret Eleanor Creed
💍 1913/6040

Bachelor
Spinster

blacksmith
dressmaker

32
28

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
28 years

In the house of Mrs J. A. Creed, 129 Dowling Street, Dunedin

13/5746

11 July 1913

J. Macfarlane

No	406
Date of Notice	11 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Beveridge Moodie	Margaret Eleanor Creed
BDM Match (98%)	James Beveridge Moodie	Margret Eleanor Creed
	💍 1913/6040
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	blacksmith	dressmaker
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	28 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs J. A. Creed, 129 Dowling Street, Dunedin
Folio	13/5746
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1913
Officiating Minister	J. Macfarlane

407

14 July 1913

Arthur Frederick Prince
Lily Elizabeth Robertson

Arthur Frederick Prince
Lily Elizabeth Robertson
💍 1913/8678

Bachelor
Spinster

carpenter

29
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
2 years

In the house of W. M. Prince, 111 Hanover Street, Dunedin

8618

14 July 1913

R. S. Gray

No	407
Date of Notice	14 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Frederick Prince	Lily Elizabeth Robertson
	💍 1913/8678
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	carpenter
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of W. M. Prince, 111 Hanover Street, Dunedin
Folio	8618
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1913
Officiating Minister	R. S. Gray

408

14 July 1913

Alfred Herbert Abbott
Catherine Thompson

Alfred Herbert Abbott
Catherine Thompson
💍 1913/6042

Bachelor
Spinster

builder
typiste

25
26

Dunedin
Roslyn

25 years
13 years

In the house of the Rev. S. R. Orr, 14 Maitland Street, Dunedin

13/5748

14 July 1913

S. R. Orr

No	408
Date of Notice	14 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Herbert Abbott	Catherine Thompson
	💍 1913/6042
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	builder	typiste
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Roslyn
Length of Residence	25 years	13 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. S. R. Orr, 14 Maitland Street, Dunedin
Folio	13/5748
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1913
Officiating Minister	S. R. Orr

409

14 July 1913

George Wright Wreford Palmer
Margaret Glaister

George Wright Wreford Palmer
Margaret Glaister
💍 1913/6027

Bachelor
Spinster

photographer

27
27

Dunedin
Mornington

18 years
27 years

In the house of M. W. M. Glaister, 17 Springhill Road, Mornington

13/5757

14 July 1913

O. D. McCallum

No	409
Date of Notice	14 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Wright Wreford Palmer	Margaret Glaister
	💍 1913/6027
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	photographer
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Mornington
Length of Residence	18 years	27 years
Marriage Place	In the house of M. W. M. Glaister, 17 Springhill Road, Mornington
Folio	13/5757
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1913
Officiating Minister	O. D. McCallum

410

14 July 1913

Reuben Richardson
Hellen Blow

Reuben Richardson
Hellen Claw
💍 1913/6041

Widower
Widow

labourer

64
67

St Kilda
St Kilda

38 years
1 year

In the house of W. G. Dick, Main Avenue, St Kilda

13/5747

14 July 1913

J. F. Jones

No	410
Date of Notice	14 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reuben Richardson	Hellen Blow
BDM Match (91%)	Reuben Richardson	Hellen Claw
	💍 1913/6041
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	labourer
Age	64	67
Dwelling Place	St Kilda	St Kilda
Length of Residence	38 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In the house of W. G. Dick, Main Avenue, St Kilda
Folio	13/5747
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1913
Officiating Minister	J. F. Jones

411

15 July 1913

Albert Edward May
Ethel Alexandra McCunn

Albert Edward May
Ethel Alexandra McCunn
💍 1913/8853

Bachelor
Spinster

labourer

20
20

Roslyn
Roslyn

20 years
2 years

In St John's Church, Roslyn

8333

John May, father; Susan Jane Campbell, mother

15 July 1913

W. A. R. Fitchett

No	411
Date of Notice	15 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward May	Ethel Alexandra McCunn
	💍 1913/8853
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	labourer
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Roslyn
Length of Residence	20 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In St John's Church, Roslyn
Folio	8333
Consent	John May, father; Susan Jane Campbell, mother
Date of Certificate	15 July 1913
Officiating Minister	W. A. R. Fitchett

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).