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 710

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 September 1913 Registrar 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

3150

3 July 1913

Thomas Arthur Cunningham
Elspeth Johnston

Thomas Arthur Cunningham
Elspeth Johnston
💍 1913/6058

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachbuilder

23
22

Aidgowan
Oamaru

3 years
5 years

Columbia Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

13/5812

3 July 1913

Rev. William Wright

No	3150
Date of Notice	3 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Arthur Cunningham	Elspeth Johnston
	💍 1913/6058
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachbuilder
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Aidgowan	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Columbia Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	13/5812
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Wright

3151

4 July 1913

James Martin Hellewell
Alice Maud Hellewell

James Martin
Alice Maud Hellewell
💍 1913/6087

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
28

Enfield
Enfield

29 years
6 months

Enfield Public Hall

13/5818

4 July 1913

Rev. Henry Clark

No	3151
Date of Notice	4 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Martin Hellewell	Alice Maud Hellewell
BDM Match (77%)	James Martin	Alice Maud Hellewell
	💍 1913/6087
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Enfield	Enfield
Length of Residence	29 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Enfield Public Hall
Folio	13/5818
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Clark

3152

4 July 1913

William Thomas Martin
Janet Bryce Martin

William Thomas Hellewell
Janet Bryce Martin
💍 1913/6088

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
26

Enfield
Enfield

6 years
4 years

Enfield Public Hall

13/5819

4 July 1913

Rev. Henry Clark

No	3152
Date of Notice	4 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Martin	Janet Bryce Martin
BDM Match (81%)	William Thomas Hellewell	Janet Bryce Martin
	💍 1913/6088
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Enfield	Enfield
Length of Residence	6 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Enfield Public Hall
Folio	13/5819
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Clark

3153

4 July 1913

Alfred Edward Sherwin
Caroline Elizabeth Jones

Alfred Edward Sherwin
Caroline Elizabeth Jones
💍 1913/6061

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

30
26

Oamaru
Oamaru

4 years
1 year

Queens Hotel, Thames Street, Oamaru

13/5815

4 July 1913

Rev. William J. Williams

No	3153
Date of Notice	4 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Edward Sherwin	Caroline Elizabeth Jones
	💍 1913/6061
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	4 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Queens Hotel, Thames Street, Oamaru
Folio	13/5815
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. William J. Williams

3154

7 July 1913

Thomas Andrew Hall
May Hardiman

Thomas Andrew Hall
May Hardiman
💍 1913/6089

Widower
Spinster

Caretaker
Housekeeper

45
41

Oamaru
Oamaru

17 years
1 month

St. Patrick's Basilica, Oamaru

13/5820

7 July 1913

Rev. Monsignor John McKay

No	3154
Date of Notice	7 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Andrew Hall	May Hardiman
	💍 1913/6089
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Caretaker	Housekeeper
Age	45	41
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	17 years	1 month
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Basilica, Oamaru
Folio	13/5820
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Monsignor John McKay

3155

12 July 1913

Andrew Sutherland
Helena Mary Brown

Andrew Sutherland
Helen Mary Isabella Brown
💍 1913/6059

Widower
Spinster

Farm Manager
Clerk

55
27

Seacliff
Oamaru

17 years
1 month

Residence of Mr. David Brown, Blueskin

13/5813

12 July 1913

Rev. William Wright

No	3155
Date of Notice	12 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Sutherland	Helena Mary Brown
BDM Match (80%)	Andrew Sutherland	Helen Mary Isabella Brown
	💍 1913/6059
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farm Manager	Clerk
Age	55	27
Dwelling Place	Seacliff	Oamaru
Length of Residence	17 years	1 month
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. David Brown, Blueskin
Folio	13/5813
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Wright

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).