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 879

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1913 Registrar John Gaunson Petrie

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

119

15 July 1913

Henry Edward Meggs
Florence Elizabeth Roberts

Henry Edward Skeggs
Florence Elizabeth Roberts
💍 1913/5162

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

36
36

Dee Street, Invercargill
Dee Street, Invercargill

3 days
3 months

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

13/4818

15 July 1913

Registrar of Marriages

No	119
Date of Notice	15 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Edward Meggs	Florence Elizabeth Roberts
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Edward Skeggs	Florence Elizabeth Roberts
	💍 1913/5162
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	36	36
Dwelling Place	Dee Street, Invercargill	Dee Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	13/4818
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

125

20 July 1913

Percy Bruno Hutchins
Annie Caroline Leand

Percy Bruno Hutchins
Annie Caroline Lund
💍 1913/5161

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Machinist

19
24

Biggar Street, Invercargill
Biggar Street, Invercargill

15 years
2 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

13/4817

Frank Hutchins, father

24 July 1913

Registrar of Marriages

No	125
Date of Notice	20 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Bruno Hutchins	Annie Caroline Leand
BDM Match (95%)	Percy Bruno Hutchins	Annie Caroline Lund
	💍 1913/5161
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Machinist
Age	19	24
Dwelling Place	Biggar Street, Invercargill	Biggar Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	15 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	13/4817
Consent	Frank Hutchins, father
Date of Certificate	24 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

126

28 July 1913

William MacKay
Annie Tomlinson

William McKay
Annie Tomlinson
💍 1913/6146

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

40
26

Woodlands, Invercargill
Omallarewa, Invercargill

2 months
26 years

Residence of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

13/5851

28 July 1913

Rev. R.R. Ryburn

No	126
Date of Notice	28 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William MacKay	Annie Tomlinson
BDM Match (96%)	William McKay	Annie Tomlinson
	💍 1913/6146
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	40	26
Dwelling Place	Woodlands, Invercargill	Omallarewa, Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 months	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	13/5851
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. R.R. Ryburn

127

29 July 1913

Henry Gordon Owen
Elizabeth Ann Cream

Henry Gorton
Elizabeth Ann Mann
💍 1913/8615

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

27
21

Omallarewa, Invercargill
Omallarewa, Invercargill

27 years
2 years

English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

8421

29 July 1913

Rev. W.J. Pack

No	127
Date of Notice	29 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Gordon Owen	Elizabeth Ann Cream
BDM Match (69%)	Henry Gorton	Elizabeth Ann Mann
	💍 1913/8615
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Omallarewa, Invercargill	Omallarewa, Invercargill
Length of Residence	27 years	2 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	8421
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W.J. Pack

128

29 July 1913

Arthur Hamilton Rowley
Frances Inglidea Small

Arthur Hamilton Rowley
Maude Matilda Small
💍 1913/8616

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

46
32

Ettrick Street, Invercargill
Ettrick Street, Invercargill

[illegible]
18 months

English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

8422

29 July 1913

Rev. W.J. Pack

No	128
Date of Notice	29 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Hamilton Rowley	Frances Inglidea Small
BDM Match (75%)	Arthur Hamilton Rowley	Maude Matilda Small
	💍 1913/8616
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	46	32
Dwelling Place	Ettrick Street, Invercargill	Ettrick Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	[illegible]	18 months
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	8422
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W.J. Pack

129

31 July 1913

James Brown Lawson
Ellen Mary Omooney

James Brown Lawson
Ellen Mary Mooney
💍 1913/6163

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

46
22

Alexandrina, Invercargill
Alexandrina, Invercargill

40 years
15 months

Roman Catholic Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

13/5844

31 July 1913

Very Rev. W. Burke

No	129
Date of Notice	31 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Brown Lawson	Ellen Mary Omooney
BDM Match (94%)	James Brown Lawson	Ellen Mary Mooney
	💍 1913/6163
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	46	22
Dwelling Place	Alexandrina, Invercargill	Alexandrina, Invercargill
Length of Residence	40 years	15 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	13/5844
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. W. Burke

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).