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 551

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 December 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

519

1 October 1913

Alexander Murray Walls
Maggie Jessie Reid Murray

Alexander Murray Walls
Maggie Jessie Reid Murray
💍 1913/8176

Bachelor
Spinster

labourer

29
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
6 months

In the house of the Rev. R. Fairmaid, 33 Young Street, St Kilda

13/7918

1 October 1913

R. Fairmaid

No	519
Date of Notice	1 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Murray Walls	Maggie Jessie Reid Murray
	💍 1913/8176
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	labourer
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. R. Fairmaid, 33 Young Street, St Kilda
Folio	13/7918
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1913
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

520

1 October 1913

Henry Waddilove Duncan
Elsie Mortimer

Kerby Waddilove Duncan
Elsie Mortimer
💍 1913/9122

Bachelor
Spinster

tea expert

33
27

Dunedin
West Harbour

2 years
6 years

In St Andrews Church

13/8777

1 October 1913

R. A. Woodthorpe

No	520
Date of Notice	1 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Waddilove Duncan	Elsie Mortimer
BDM Match (93%)	Kerby Waddilove Duncan	Elsie Mortimer
	💍 1913/9122
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	tea expert
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	West Harbour
Length of Residence	2 years	6 years
Marriage Place	In St Andrews Church
Folio	13/8777
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1913
Officiating Minister	R. A. Woodthorpe

521

1 October 1913

Jesse Rood
Emily Dove

Jesse Rood
Emily Dove
💍 1913/8179

Widower
Spinster

butcher

34
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
24 years

In the Baptist Church, North East Valley

13/7970

1 October 1913

J. Carlisle

No	521
Date of Notice	1 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jesse Rood	Emily Dove
	💍 1913/8179
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	butcher
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	24 years
Marriage Place	In the Baptist Church, North East Valley
Folio	13/7970
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1913
Officiating Minister	J. Carlisle

522

2 October 1913

Walter Raymond Hargreaves Sinclair
Christina Florence Hargreaves Sinclair

Walter Raymond
Christina Florence Hargreaves Sinclair
💍 1913/8207

Bachelor
Spinster

solicitor

34
26

Timaru
Dunedin

5 years
26 years

In St Matthews Church

13/7953

2 October 1913

W. Curzon-Siggers

No	522
Date of Notice	2 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Raymond Hargreaves Sinclair	Christina Florence Hargreaves Sinclair
BDM Match (71%)	Walter Raymond	Christina Florence Hargreaves Sinclair
	💍 1913/8207
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	solicitor
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	26 years
Marriage Place	In St Matthews Church
Folio	13/7953
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1913
Officiating Minister	W. Curzon-Siggers

523

2 October 1913

George Clark
Amy Marguerite Paterson

George Clark
Amy Marguerite Paterson
💍 1913/8208

Bachelor
Spinster

telegraphist

28
28

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
13 years

In the house of W. M. Paterson, 132 Gough Street, Roslyn

13/7954

2 October 1913

G. H. Balfour

No	523
Date of Notice	2 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Clark	Amy Marguerite Paterson
	💍 1913/8208
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	telegraphist
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	13 years
Marriage Place	In the house of W. M. Paterson, 132 Gough Street, Roslyn
Folio	13/7954
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1913
Officiating Minister	G. H. Balfour

524

2 October 1913

Donald Gordon Mitchell
Eveline Williden

Donald Gordon Mitchell
Eveline William
💍 1913/8167

Bachelor
Spinster

telegraphist

27
29

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 years
29 years

In St Paul's Cathedral

13/7932

2 October 1913

H. G. Gould

No	524
Date of Notice	2 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Gordon Mitchell	Eveline Williden
BDM Match (91%)	Donald Gordon Mitchell	Eveline William
	💍 1913/8167
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	telegraphist
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 years	29 years
Marriage Place	In St Paul's Cathedral
Folio	13/7932
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1913
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gould

525

4 October 1913

Daniel Sellwood
Margaret McBain

Daniel Sellwood
Margaret McBain
💍 1913/8210

Bachelor
Spinster

labourer

35
28

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the First Church Manse, Dunedin

13/7955

4 October 1913

G. H. Balfour

No	525
Date of Notice	4 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Sellwood	Margaret McBain
	💍 1913/8210
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	labourer
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the First Church Manse, Dunedin
Folio	13/7955
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 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).