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 765

District of Tokomairiro Quarter ending 30 June 1913 Registrar P D Maguire

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

9 April 1913

Walter Hunt
Edith Louisa Martin

Walter Hunt
Edith Louisa Martin
💍 1913/2811

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Weaver

23
18

Milton
Milton

2 1/2 Yrs
1 Year

Registrars Office, Milton

13/2507

Robert Martin

9 April 1913

P D Maguire, Registrar

No	11
Date of Notice	9 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Hunt	Edith Louisa Martin
	💍 1913/2811
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Weaver
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Milton	Milton
Length of Residence	2 1/2 Yrs	1 Year
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Milton
Folio	13/2507
Consent	Robert Martin
Date of Certificate	9 April 1913
Officiating Minister	P D Maguire, Registrar

22 April 1913

John David Buchanan
Margaret Ann Ferguson

John David Buchanan
Margaret Ann Ferguson
💍 1913/2812

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

31
24

Milton
Milton

1 Year
3 Days

Registrars Office, Milton

13/2508

22 April 1913

P D Maguire, Registrar

No	12
Date of Notice	22 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John David Buchanan	Margaret Ann Ferguson
	💍 1913/2812
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Milton	Milton
Length of Residence	1 Year	3 Days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Milton
Folio	13/2508
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1913
Officiating Minister	P D Maguire, Registrar

14 May 1913

John Harry Thomas Pateman
Margaret Jane Tweed

John Harry Thomas Bateman
Margaret Jane Tweed
💍 1913/4315

Bachelor
Spinster

County Inspector
Dom Duties

36
31

Milton
Lovells Flat

2 Years
25 Yrs

House of Mr Andrew Tweed, Lovells Flat

13/3941

14 May 1913

A Morton

No	13
Date of Notice	14 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Harry Thomas Pateman	Margaret Jane Tweed
BDM Match (98%)	John Harry Thomas Bateman	Margaret Jane Tweed
	💍 1913/4315
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	County Inspector	Dom Duties
Age	36	31
Dwelling Place	Milton	Lovells Flat
Length of Residence	2 Years	25 Yrs
Marriage Place	House of Mr Andrew Tweed, Lovells Flat
Folio	13/3941
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1913
Officiating Minister	A Morton

17 May 1913

Kinnear Smith
Valerie Isabel Grey

Kinnear Smith
Valerie Isabel Grey
💍 1913/4316

Bachelor
Spinster

Bond Manager
Dom Duties

26
26

Milton
Milton

6 Days
16 Yrs

St Johns Anglican Church, Milton

13/3942

17 May 1913

J C Small

No	14
Date of Notice	17 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kinnear Smith	Valerie Isabel Grey
	💍 1913/4316
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bond Manager	Dom Duties
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Milton	Milton
Length of Residence	6 Days	16 Yrs
Marriage Place	St Johns Anglican Church, Milton
Folio	13/3942
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 May 1913
Officiating Minister	J C Small

16 June 1913

Robert Richardson
Margaret Johnston Maxwell

Robert Richardson
Margaret Johnston Maxwell
💍 1913/4320

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Dom Duties

24
20

Milton
Milton

1 Month
20 Yrs

Presbyterian Church, Milton

13/3945

Henry Maxwell

16 June 1913

G Miller

No	15
Date of Notice	16 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Richardson	Margaret Johnston Maxwell
	💍 1913/4320
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Dom Duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Milton	Milton
Length of Residence	1 Month	20 Yrs
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Milton
Folio	13/3945
Consent	Henry Maxwell
Date of Certificate	16 June 1913
Officiating Minister	G Miller

16 June 1913

William John Cockburn
Agnes Louisa Nicol Hogg

William John Cockburn
Agnes Louisa Nicol Hogg
💍 1913/4321

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dom Duties

25
20

Moneymore
Glenledi

17 Yrs
10 Yrs

Presbyterian Church, Milton

13/3946

John Hogg

16 June 1913

G Miller

No	16
Date of Notice	16 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Cockburn	Agnes Louisa Nicol Hogg
	💍 1913/4321
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dom Duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Moneymore	Glenledi
Length of Residence	17 Yrs	10 Yrs
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Milton
Folio	13/3946
Consent	John Hogg
Date of Certificate	16 June 1913
Officiating Minister	G Miller

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).