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 605

District of East Taieri Quarter ending 30 September 1913 Registrar George A Keys

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

8 July 1913

Robert Leonard Bartram Martin
Jessie Matheson

Robert Leonard Bertram Martin
Jessie Matheson
💍 1913/6068

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman
Domestic duties

23
23

Mosgiel
North Taieri

2 years
14 months

Residence of George Matheson

13/5799

8 July 1913

Rev. James Lynburn

No	23
Date of Notice	8 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Leonard Bartram Martin	Jessie Matheson
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Leonard Bertram Martin	Jessie Matheson
	💍 1913/6068
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman	Domestic duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel	North Taieri
Length of Residence	2 years	14 months
Marriage Place	Residence of George Matheson
Folio	13/5799
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Lynburn

23 July 1913

John Aitken
Lily Agnes Rankin Shore

John Aitken
Lily Agnes Rankin Shore
💍 1913/6045

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic duties

31
27

Mosgiel
Otokia

31 years
17 years

Residence of J. Shores

13/5800

23 July 1913

Rev. D. M. Goll

No	24
Date of Notice	23 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Aitken	Lily Agnes Rankin Shore
	💍 1913/6045
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel	Otokia
Length of Residence	31 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. Shores
Folio	13/5800
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. M. Goll

7 August 1913

Sydney Inahood
Helga Ryders

Sydney Mahood
Helga Lyders
💍 1913/8899

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
Domestic duties

27
23

Fairfield
Fairfield

3 days
2 years

Residence of Ryders, Dunedin

8379

7 August 1913

Rev. F. Frost

No	25
Date of Notice	7 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Inahood	Helga Ryders
BDM Match (89%)	Sydney Mahood	Helga Lyders
	💍 1913/8899
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	Domestic duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Fairfield	Fairfield
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Ryders, Dunedin
Folio	8379
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Frost

12 August 1913

George Hope Scott
Mary Jaffray

George Hope Scott
Mary Jaffray
💍 1913/8962

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic duties

48
31

Saddle Hill
Saddle Hill

3 days
10 days

Residence of Mr. Jaffrays, Dunedin

8467

12 August 1913

Rev. A. R. Kinnimont

No	26
Date of Notice	12 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Hope Scott	Mary Jaffray
	💍 1913/8962
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic duties
Age	48	31
Dwelling Place	Saddle Hill	Saddle Hill
Length of Residence	3 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Jaffrays, Dunedin
Folio	8467
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. R. Kinnimont

22 September 1913

James Smaillie
Agnes Jane Callen

James Smaillie
Agnes Jane Allen
💍 1913/6067

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic duties

33
26

Wingatui
North Taieri

20 years
20 years

Residence of James Callen, North Taieri

13/5798

22 September 1913

Rev. J. Lynburn

No	27
Date of Notice	22 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Smaillie	Agnes Jane Callen
BDM Match (94%)	James Smaillie	Agnes Jane Allen
	💍 1913/6067
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic duties
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Wingatui	North Taieri
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of James Callen, North Taieri
Folio	13/5798
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Lynburn

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).