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 557

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

556

22 October 1913

Samuel Edward Berry
Helen Stedman Holmes

Samuel Edward Berry
Helen Steedman Holmes
💍 1913/6890

Bachelor
Spinster

carpenter

26
28

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
28 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

13/6601

22 October 1913

H. Maxwell

No	556
Date of Notice	22 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Edward Berry	Helen Stedman Holmes
BDM Match (98%)	Samuel Edward Berry	Helen Steedman Holmes
	💍 1913/6890
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	carpenter
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	13/6601
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

557

23 October 1913

Edward W. Liskey
Margaret Fairweather Anderson

Edward McLiskey McPhail
Margaret Fairweather Anderson
💍 1913/8214

Bachelor
Spinster

carpenter

32
34

West Harbour
West Harbour

11 years
34 years

In the house of the Rev Geo. Heighway, Albany Street Dunedin

7959

23 October 1913

G. Heighway

No	557
Date of Notice	23 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward W. Liskey	Margaret Fairweather Anderson
BDM Match (76%)	Edward McLiskey McPhail	Margaret Fairweather Anderson
	💍 1913/8214
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	carpenter
Age	32	34
Dwelling Place	West Harbour	West Harbour
Length of Residence	11 years	34 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev Geo. Heighway, Albany Street Dunedin
Folio	7959
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1913
Officiating Minister	G. Heighway

558

23 October 1913

Walter Thomas Smith
Isabella Brown

Walter Thomas Smith
Isabella Brown
💍 1913/6891

Bachelor
Divorced

metal worker

31
31

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
2 weeks

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

13/6602

23 October 1913

H. Maxwell

No	558
Date of Notice	23 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Thomas Smith	Isabella Brown
	💍 1913/6891
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	metal worker
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	13/6602
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

559

24 October 1913

Edward Elliot
Elizabeth Pringle

Edward Elliot
Elizabeth Pringle
💍 1913/6892

Bachelor
Spinster

labourer
machinist

32
32

Green Island
Green Island

4 years
32 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

13/6603

24 October 1913

H. Maxwell

No	559
Date of Notice	24 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Elliot	Elizabeth Pringle
	💍 1913/6892
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	labourer	machinist
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Green Island	Green Island
Length of Residence	4 years	32 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	13/6603
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

560

24 October 1913

William Knox
Beatrice Mary Cairns

William Knox
Beatrice Mary Cairns
💍 1913/8732

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer

38
25

Green Island
Dunedin

38 years
6 months

In St Patrick's Basilica Vestry South Dunedin

8676

24 October 1913

D. O'Neill

No	560
Date of Notice	24 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Knox	Beatrice Mary Cairns
	💍 1913/8732
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer
Age	38	25
Dwelling Place	Green Island	Dunedin
Length of Residence	38 years	6 months
Marriage Place	In St Patrick's Basilica Vestry South Dunedin
Folio	8676
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1913
Officiating Minister	D. O'Neill

561

25 October 1913

Alfred South
Margaret Annie Liddell

Alfred South
Margaret Annie Liddell
💍 1913/6893

Bachelor
Spinster

brickmaker

33
29

Dunedin
Mornington

2 years
7 months

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

13/6604

25 October 1913

H. Maxwell

No	561
Date of Notice	25 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred South	Margaret Annie Liddell
	💍 1913/6893
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	brickmaker
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Mornington
Length of Residence	2 years	7 months
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	13/6604
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

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).