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 708

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 June 1913 Registrar Alexander Adam Main

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

3143

17 June 1913

Abel Beardsmore Junior
Fanny Colquhoune Gray

Aluf Beardsmore
Fanny Colquhoune Gray
💍 1913/4349

Bachelor
Spinster

Coalminer

27
25

Peebles
Papakaio

27 years
25 years

Residence of Mr. John L. Gray

13/3925

17 June 1913

Rev. John Steven

No	3143
Date of Notice	17 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Abel Beardsmore Junior	Fanny Colquhoune Gray
BDM Match (77%)	Aluf Beardsmore	Fanny Colquhoune Gray
	💍 1913/4349
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coalminer
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Peebles	Papakaio
Length of Residence	27 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. John L. Gray
Folio	13/3925
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Steven

3144

18 June 1913

Frederick Bailey Mair
Lucy Ethel Brown

Frederick Bailey Muir
Lucy Ethel Brown
💍 1913/6346

Divorced
Spinster

Photographer

44
35

Oamaru
Wansbeck Street, Oamaru

10 weeks
3 days

Residence of Mr. R. Mahan

13/6106

18 June 1913

Rev. Robert J. Porter

No	3144
Date of Notice	18 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Bailey Mair	Lucy Ethel Brown
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Bailey Muir	Lucy Ethel Brown
	💍 1913/6346
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Photographer
Age	44	35
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Wansbeck Street, Oamaru
Length of Residence	10 weeks	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. R. Mahan
Folio	13/6106
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert J. Porter

3145

18 June 1913

George McPherson McKenzie
Effie Alice Sevicke Beaton

George McPherson McKenzie
Effie Alice Seviche Beatan
💍 1913/4254

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
21

Pu Keuri
Waimate

25 years
21 years

St. Augustine Anglican Church

13/3180

18 June 1913

Rev. McKenzie Gibson

No	3145
Date of Notice	18 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George McPherson McKenzie	Effie Alice Sevicke Beaton
BDM Match (96%)	George McPherson McKenzie	Effie Alice Seviche Beatan
	💍 1913/4254
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Pu Keuri	Waimate
Length of Residence	25 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine Anglican Church
Folio	13/3180
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. McKenzie Gibson

3146

21 June 1913

William Tate
Vida Wickland

William Tate
Vida Wikland
💍 1913/4328

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Waitress

24
23

Windsor near Oamaru
Oamaru

9 years
8 months

Church of Christ, Oamaru

13/3930

21 June 1913

Rev. Thomas H. Mathieson

No	3146
Date of Notice	21 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Tate	Vida Wickland
BDM Match (96%)	William Tate	Vida Wikland
	💍 1913/4328
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Waitress
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Windsor near Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	9 years	8 months
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Oamaru
Folio	13/3930
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas H. Mathieson

3148

25 June 1913

George Galloway Kerr
Miriam Elenor Turvey

George Galloway Kerr
Miriam Eleanor Turvey
💍 1913/6080

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
28

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
28 years

Newborough Anglican Church

13/5817

25 June 1913

Rev. David Jamieson

No	3148
Date of Notice	25 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Galloway Kerr	Miriam Elenor Turvey
BDM Match (98%)	George Galloway Kerr	Miriam Eleanor Turvey
	💍 1913/6080
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	Newborough Anglican Church
Folio	13/5817
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Jamieson

3149

30 June 1913

James Sparks
Violet Moore

James Sparks
Violet Moore
💍 1913/6051

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's assistant

22
21

Oamaru
Oamaru

22 years
21 years

Residence of Mr. John Moore

13/5806

30 June 1913

Rev. Robert James Porter

No	3149
Date of Notice	30 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Sparks	Violet Moore
	💍 1913/6051
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's assistant
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	22 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. John Moore
Folio	13/5806
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert James Porter

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).