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 537

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

442

29 July 1913

Patrick Basserly
Jane Morrison

Patrick Casserly
Jane Morrison
💍 1913/6363

Bachelor
Spinster

miner

26
19

Green Island
Dunedin

3 years
3 days

In St Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin

13/6149

Margaret Peck, mother

29 July 1913

D. Buckley

No	442
Date of Notice	29 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Basserly	Jane Morrison
BDM Match (97%)	Patrick Casserly	Jane Morrison
	💍 1913/6363
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	miner
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Green Island	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	3 days
Marriage Place	In St Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	13/6149
Consent	Margaret Peck, mother
Date of Certificate	29 July 1913
Officiating Minister	D. Buckley

443

29 July 1913

Charles Carnie
Amy Ethel Orange

Charles Carnie
Amy Ethel Orange
💍 1913/6290

Bachelor
Spinster

factory manager

25
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
12 months

In the Presbyterian Church, North East Valley

13/5904

29 July 1913

H. B. Gray

No	443
Date of Notice	29 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Carnie	Amy Ethel Orange
	💍 1913/6290
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	factory manager
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	12 months
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church, North East Valley
Folio	13/5904
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1913
Officiating Minister	H. B. Gray

444

29 July 1913

John Henry Booth Smith
Annie Louisa Smith

John Henry Booth
Annie Louisa Smith
💍 1913/6362

Bachelor
Spinster

cook

24
19

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
3 years

In St Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin

13/6184

William Smith, father

29 July 1913

T. S. Kavanagh

No	444
Date of Notice	29 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Booth Smith	Annie Louisa Smith
BDM Match (86%)	John Henry Booth	Annie Louisa Smith
	💍 1913/6362
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	cook
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In St Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	13/6184
Consent	William Smith, father
Date of Certificate	29 July 1913
Officiating Minister	T. S. Kavanagh

445

30 July 1913

William Cassels
Mary Flora Hephzibah John

William Cassels
Mary Flora Hepyzbah John
💍 1913/6137

Widower
Spinster

telegraphist

50
36

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the First Church Manse, Dunedin

13/5768

30 July 1913

G. H. Balfour

No	445
Date of Notice	30 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cassels	Mary Flora Hephzibah John
BDM Match (96%)	William Cassels	Mary Flora Hepyzbah John
	💍 1913/6137
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	telegraphist
Age	50	36
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the First Church Manse, Dunedin
Folio	13/5768
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1913
Officiating Minister	G. H. Balfour

446

30 July 1913

Norman Gimblett Powell
Catharine Heath Wilkin

Norman Gimblett Powell
Catherine Heath Wilkin
💍 1913/6142

Bachelor
Spinster

bank officer

32
34

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
2 years

In St Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin

13/5773

30 July 1913

H. G. Gould

No	446
Date of Notice	30 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Gimblett Powell	Catharine Heath Wilkin
BDM Match (98%)	Norman Gimblett Powell	Catherine Heath Wilkin
	💍 1913/6142
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	bank officer
Age	32	34
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In St Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	13/5773
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1913
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gould

447

1 August 1913

Neil Laverty
Ivy Annie Peek

Neil Laverty
Ivy Annie Peek
💍 1913/5016

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer

26
18

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 weeks
9 months

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

13/4648

Mary Peek, mother

1 August 1913

H. Maxwell

No	447
Date of Notice	1 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neil Laverty	Ivy Annie Peek
	💍 1913/5016
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 weeks	9 months
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	13/4648
Consent	Mary Peek, mother
Date of Certificate	1 August 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

448

1 August 1913

Thomas William Parkhill
Irene Moore

Thomas William Parkhill
Irene Moore
💍 1913/8838

Bachelor
Spinster

police constable

22
18

Dunedin
Dunedin

7 months
18 years

In Knox Church Vestry, Dunedin

8342

Joseph Throp, guardian

1 August 1913

R. E. Davies

No	448
Date of Notice	1 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Parkhill	Irene Moore
	💍 1913/8838
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	police constable
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 months	18 years
Marriage Place	In Knox Church Vestry, Dunedin
Folio	8342
Consent	Joseph Throp, guardian
Date of Certificate	1 August 1913
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies

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).