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 702

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 March 1913 Registrar Alexander Juriss

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

3118

8 March 1913

Walter Jameson Lawrence
Agnes May Spies

Walter Jameson Lawrence
Agnes May
💍 1913/2499

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanical Engineer
Lady help

26
26

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
3 weeks

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

13/199

8 March 1913

Rev. Robert J. Porter

No	3118
Date of Notice	8 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Jameson Lawrence	Agnes May Spies
BDM Match (80%)	Walter Jameson Lawrence	Agnes May
	💍 1913/2499
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanical Engineer	Lady help
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	13/199
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert J. Porter

3119

10 March 1913

Daniel Forbes Sutherland
Annie Nelson Spies

Daniel Forbes Sutherland
Annie Nelson
💍 1913/2225

Bachelor
Spinster

Building Contractor

25
25

Oamaru
Windsor

3 years
4 years

Presbyterian Church at Enfield

13/1740

10 March 1913

Rev. Henry Clark

No	3119
Date of Notice	10 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Forbes Sutherland	Annie Nelson Spies
BDM Match (83%)	Daniel Forbes Sutherland	Annie Nelson
	💍 1913/2225
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Building Contractor
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Windsor
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church at Enfield
Folio	13/1740
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Clark

3120

14 March 1913

Albert Joseph Arlow
Alice Janet Walker Hamilton

Albert Joseph Arlow
Alice Janet Walker Tamilton
💍 1913/2588

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

25
25

Christchurch
Oamaru

25 years
25 years

Methodist Church at Christchurch

13/2110

14 March 1913

Rev. William J. Williams

No	3120
Date of Notice	14 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Joseph Arlow	Alice Janet Walker Hamilton
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Joseph Arlow	Alice Janet Walker Tamilton
	💍 1913/2588
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Oamaru
Length of Residence	25 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church at Christchurch
Folio	13/2110
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. William J. Williams

3121

15 March 1913

George Arthur Green
Agnes Black

George Arthur Green
Agnes Black
💍 1913/2226

Albert Smith
Agnes Black
💍 1913/3982

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
20

Ngapara
Ngapara

2 months
20 years

Presbyterian Church at Ngapara

13/1784

Jeremiah Black, father

15 March 1913

Rev. Henry Clark

No	3121
Date of Notice	15 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Arthur Green	Agnes Black
	💍 1913/2226
BDM Match (61%)	Albert Smith	Agnes Black
	💍 1913/3982
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Ngapara	Ngapara
Length of Residence	2 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church at Ngapara
Folio	13/1784
Consent	Jeremiah Black, father
Date of Certificate	15 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Clark

3122

18 March 1913

Peter Alexander Campbell
Elizabeth Tait Irvine

Peter Alexander Campbell
Elizabeth Tait Irvine
💍 1913/2587

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker

34
28

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
28 years

Residence of Mrs. Margaret Irvine, Coquet Street, Oamaru

13/2109

18 March 1913

Rev. William J. Williams

No	3122
Date of Notice	18 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Alexander Campbell	Elizabeth Tait Irvine
	💍 1913/2587
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Margaret Irvine, Coquet Street, Oamaru
Folio	13/2109
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. William J. Williams

3123

20 March 1913

Thomas Gilbert Donovan
Isabella Paterson

Thomas Gilbert Donovan
Isabella Paterson
💍 1913/8801

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Domestic

22
21

Oamaru
South Oamaru

22 years
21 years

Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru

13/1743

20 March 1913

Rev. Alexander Farthing

No	3123
Date of Notice	20 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Gilbert Donovan	Isabella Paterson
	💍 1913/8801
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Domestic
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	South Oamaru
Length of Residence	22 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru
Folio	13/1743
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexander Farthing

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).