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 698

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 March 1913 Registrar Alexander Adam Mair

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

3108

17 February 1913

James Henderson
Margaret Lillie Brewster

James Henderson
Margaret Lillie Brewster
💍 1913/2242

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
29

Usual: Kauroo present: Oamaru
Waiareka

3 days
10 years

In the Columba Church

13/1733

17 February 1913

Rev. William Wright

No	3108
Date of Notice	17 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henderson	Margaret Lillie Brewster
	💍 1913/2242
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Usual: Kauroo present: Oamaru	Waiareka
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	In the Columba Church
Folio	13/1733
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Wright

3109

14 February 1913

Henry McLardy
Elizabeth Fraser

Henry McLardy
Elizabeth Fraser
💍 1913/2497

Bachelor
Spinster

Sergeant Major

37
29

Oamaru
Oamaru

12 months
12 years

In the dwelling house of Rev Robert James Porter, Oamaru

13/1990

14 February 1913

Rev. Robert James Porter

No	3109
Date of Notice	14 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry McLardy	Elizabeth Fraser
	💍 1913/2497
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sergeant Major
Age	37	29
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	12 months	12 years
Marriage Place	In the dwelling house of Rev Robert James Porter, Oamaru
Folio	13/1990
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert James Porter

3110

14 February 1913

William James Rawson
May Oliver

William James Rawson
May Oliver
💍 1913/2229

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

25
21

Oamaru
Oamaru

25 years
3 years

Church of Christ

13/1745

14 February 1913

Rev. James D. Mill

No	3110
Date of Notice	14 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Rawson	May Oliver
	💍 1913/2229
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	25 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ
Folio	13/1745
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. James D. Mill

3111

18 February 1913

Cecil Gulielmus Jackson
Christina Brims

Cecil Gulielmus Jackson
Christina Burns
💍 1913/2222

Bachelor
Spinster

Tonsorial artist

37
35

Oamaru
Oamaru

about 8 years
35 years

at the residence of Mrs Catherine Brims, Wansbeck Street, Oamaru

13/1737

18 February 1913

Rev. David Jamieson

No	3111
Date of Notice	18 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Gulielmus Jackson	Christina Brims
BDM Match (90%)	Cecil Gulielmus Jackson	Christina Burns
	💍 1913/2222
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tonsorial artist
Age	37	35
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	about 8 years	35 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of Mrs Catherine Brims, Wansbeck Street, Oamaru
Folio	13/1737
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Jamieson

3112

18 February 1913

Henry Hay
Jessie McPhail

Henry Hay
Jessie McPhail
💍 1913/2498

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27
29

Oamaru
Oamaru

27 years
29 years

In the residence of Christina McPhail, Reed Street, Oamaru

13/1991

18 February 1913

Rev. Robert James Porter

No	3112
Date of Notice	18 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Hay	Jessie McPhail
	💍 1913/2498
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	27 years	29 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Christina McPhail, Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	13/1991
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert James Porter

3113

19 February 1913

Edward Redditt
Mabel Piercy

Edward Redditt
Mabel Piercy
💍 1913/939

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
General Servant

21
17

Oamaru
Oamaru

12 months
17 years

at the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru

13/345

Henry Piercy, father

19 February 1913

Registrar of Marriages

No	3113
Date of Notice	19 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Redditt	Mabel Piercy
	💍 1913/939
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	General Servant
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	12 months	17 years
Marriage Place	at the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
Folio	13/345
Consent	Henry Piercy, father
Date of Certificate	19 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

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).