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 611

District of Gabriels Quarter ending 30 June 1913 Registrar James Milne Adam

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

292

30 April 1913

Michael Healy
Catherine Bridget Roche

Michael Healy
Catherine Bridget Roche
💍 1913/4354

Bachelor
Spinster

Drapery Salesman
Drapery Saleswoman

30
24

Usual Balclutha, Present Lawrence
Blue Spur

3 days
24 years

At the Roman Catholic Church, Lawrence

13/3907

30 April 1913

Patrick O'Leary, Roman Catholic

No	292
Date of Notice	30 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Healy	Catherine Bridget Roche
	💍 1913/4354
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drapery Salesman	Drapery Saleswoman
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Usual Balclutha, Present Lawrence	Blue Spur
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Church, Lawrence
Folio	13/3907
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Patrick O'Leary, Roman Catholic

293

14 May 1913

David Wood McLeod
Jesse Helen McPherson

David Wood McLeod
Jessie Helen McPherson
💍 1913/4355

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

40
18

Whenuakoa
Evans Flat

33 years
18 years

At the house of Miss Arnott, Evans Flat

13/3906

Henry McPherson, father

14 May 1913

George Brockett, Presbyterian

No	293
Date of Notice	14 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Wood McLeod	Jesse Helen McPherson
BDM Match (98%)	David Wood McLeod	Jessie Helen McPherson
	💍 1913/4355
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	40	18
Dwelling Place	Whenuakoa	Evans Flat
Length of Residence	33 years	18 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Miss Arnott, Evans Flat
Folio	13/3906
Consent	Henry McPherson, father
Date of Certificate	14 May 1913
Officiating Minister	George Brockett, Presbyterian

294

18 June 1913

Archibald Gordon McKeich
May Beatrice Wheeler

Archibald Gordon McKeich
May Beatrice Wheeler
💍 1913/2803

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Duties

33
19

Waipori
Waipori

7 years
3 years

At the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Courthouse, Lawrence

13/25

Thomas Wheeler, father

18 June 1913

James Milne Adam, Registrar

No	294
Date of Notice	18 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Gordon McKeich	May Beatrice Wheeler
	💍 1913/2803
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Duties
Age	33	19
Dwelling Place	Waipori	Waipori
Length of Residence	7 years	3 years
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Courthouse, Lawrence
Folio	13/25
Consent	Thomas Wheeler, father
Date of Certificate	18 June 1913
Officiating Minister	James Milne Adam, Registrar

295

20 June 1913

William Pearson
Margaret Ann Laborn

William Pearson
Margaret Ann Taborn
💍 1913/4352

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

43
39

Lawrence
Lawrence

43 years
39 years

At the house of Margaret Ann Laborn, Waitahuna Road, Lawrence

13/3905

20 June 1913

Peter Calder Durward, Presbyterian

No	295
Date of Notice	20 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Pearson	Margaret Ann Laborn
BDM Match (97%)	William Pearson	Margaret Ann Taborn
	💍 1913/4352
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	43	39
Dwelling Place	Lawrence	Lawrence
Length of Residence	43 years	39 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Margaret Ann Laborn, Waitahuna Road, Lawrence
Folio	13/3905
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Peter Calder Durward, Presbyterian

296

24 June 1913

George Patrick Bulfin
May Eugenia Bulfin

George Patrick
May Eugenia Bulfin
💍 1913/4353

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

45
35

Te Houka, Lawrence
Lawrence

2 days
35 years

At the house of Mrs. Bulfin, Lawrence

13/3906

24 June 1913

Peter Calder Durward, Presbyterian

No	296
Date of Notice	24 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Patrick Bulfin	May Eugenia Bulfin
BDM Match (83%)	George Patrick	May Eugenia Bulfin
	💍 1913/4353
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	45	35
Dwelling Place	Te Houka, Lawrence	Lawrence
Length of Residence	2 days	35 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mrs. Bulfin, Lawrence
Folio	13/3906
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Peter Calder Durward, Presbyterian

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).