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 846

District of Gore Quarter ending 31 March 1913 Registrar George Brett

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

1 January 1913

Ernest James Wassell
Mary Murdoch

Ernest James Wassell
Mary Murdoch
💍 1913/2314

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
19

Gore
Gore

3 days
3 days

The Congregational Manse, Gore

13/1783

Margaret Murdoch, mother

1 January 1913

Rev. George Harvey

No	1
Date of Notice	1 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest James Wassell	Mary Murdoch
	💍 1913/2314
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	19
Dwelling Place	Gore	Gore
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	The Congregational Manse, Gore
Folio	13/1783
Consent	Margaret Murdoch, mother
Date of Certificate	1 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Harvey

6 January 1913

John M. Kitterick
Jane Martin

John McKitterick
Jane Martin
💍 1913/2316

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

26
23

Gore
Waikaka Valley

3 days
12 years

J. A. Paterson's Tea Rooms, Main Street, Gore

13/1785

6 January 1913

Rev. M. A. R. Pratt

No	2
Date of Notice	6 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John M. Kitterick	Jane Martin
BDM Match (94%)	John McKitterick	Jane Martin
	💍 1913/2316
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Gore	Waikaka Valley
Length of Residence	3 days	12 years
Marriage Place	J. A. Paterson's Tea Rooms, Main Street, Gore
Folio	13/1785
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. A. R. Pratt

8 January 1913

Francis John Christie
May Reid

Francis John Christie
May Reid
💍 1913/2505

Bachelor
Spinster

Drover

29
24

Gore
Gore

3 days
3 weeks

Residence of Mr. Ernest Gray, River Street, Gore

13/1997

8 January 1913

Rev. Patrick O'Donnell

No	3
Date of Notice	8 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis John Christie	May Reid
	💍 1913/2505
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drover
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Gore	Gore
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Ernest Gray, River Street, Gore
Folio	13/1997
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick O'Donnell

8 January 1913

James Thomas Breen
Mary Catherine Mc. Veigh

James Thomas Breen
Mary Catherine McVeigh
💍 1913/2503

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
24

Gore
Gore

3 days
4 months

Roman Catholic Church, East Gore

13/1995

8 January 1913

Rev. Patrick O'Donnell

No	4
Date of Notice	8 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Thomas Breen	Mary Catherine Mc. Veigh
BDM Match (96%)	James Thomas Breen	Mary Catherine McVeigh
	💍 1913/2503
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Gore	Gore
Length of Residence	3 days	4 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, East Gore
Folio	13/1995
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick O'Donnell

22 January 1913

Richard Samuel Midgley
Mary Jane Brice

Richard Samuel Midgley
Mary Jane Brice
💍 1913/2315

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

35
36

Gore
Gore

3 days
2 1/2 years

Methodist Church, Gore

13/1784

22 January 1913

Rev. M. A. R. Pratt

No	5
Date of Notice	22 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Samuel Midgley	Mary Jane Brice
	💍 1913/2315
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	35	36
Dwelling Place	Gore	Gore
Length of Residence	3 days	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Gore
Folio	13/1784
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. A. R. Pratt

14 February 1913

William Donnie Marshall
Janet Wishart Millar

William Downie Marshall
Janet Wishart Millar
💍 1913/2294

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

41
32

Knapdale
Knapdale

30 years
9 months

J. A. Paterson's Tea Rooms, Gore

13/1786

14 February 1913

Rev. Alexander Hardie

No	6
Date of Notice	14 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Donnie Marshall	Janet Wishart Millar
BDM Match (98%)	William Downie Marshall	Janet Wishart Millar
	💍 1913/2294
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	41	32
Dwelling Place	Knapdale	Knapdale
Length of Residence	30 years	9 months
Marriage Place	J. A. Paterson's Tea Rooms, Gore
Folio	13/1786
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexander Hardie

26 February 1913

Alfred Mitchell
Annie Margaret Gibb

Alfred Mitchell
Annie Margaret Gibb
💍 1913/2313

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Tailoress

26
23

Gore
Gore

3 days
12 years

Congregational Church, Gore

13/1782

26 February 1913

Rev. George Harvey

No	7
Date of Notice	26 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Mitchell	Annie Margaret Gibb
	💍 1913/2313
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Tailoress
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Gore	Gore
Length of Residence	3 days	12 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Gore
Folio	13/1782
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Harvey

11 March 1913

Richard Ingram Low
Eva Lily Brady

Richard Ingram Low
Eva Lily Brady
💍 1913/2504

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

22
24

Gore
Gore

21 years
10 months

Residence of A. S. Borby, Broughton Street, Gore

13/1996

11 March 1913

Rev. Patrick O'Donnell

No	8
Date of Notice	11 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Ingram Low	Eva Lily Brady
	💍 1913/2504
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Gore	Gore
Length of Residence	21 years	10 months
Marriage Place	Residence of A. S. Borby, Broughton Street, Gore
Folio	13/1996
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick O'Donnell

24 March 1913

William Ottaway
Elizabeth Gillies

William Ottaway
Elizabeth Gillies McAllister Leitch Cook
💍 1913/2295

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

36
28

Gore
Gore

3 days
Life

Residence of James Cook, Craigielea, Gore

13/1787

24 March 1913

Rev. J. M. Simpson

No	9
Date of Notice	24 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ottaway	Elizabeth Gillies
BDM Match (71%)	William Ottaway	Elizabeth Gillies McAllister Leitch Cook
	💍 1913/2295
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	36	28
Dwelling Place	Gore	Gore
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of James Cook, Craigielea, Gore
Folio	13/1787
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Simpson

27 March 1913

Robert Mc. Cartney
Helena Kirk Langskaill

Robert McCartney
Helena Kirk Langskaill
💍 1913/2312

Bachelor
Spinster

Dredgeman

30
25

Gore
Gore

Life
2 years

Congregational Church, Gore

13/1781

27 March 1913

Rev. George Harvey

No	10
Date of Notice	27 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Mc. Cartney	Helena Kirk Langskaill
BDM Match (94%)	Robert McCartney	Helena Kirk Langskaill
	💍 1913/2312
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dredgeman
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Gore	Gore
Length of Residence	Life	2 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Gore
Folio	13/1781
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Harvey

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).