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 908

District of Mataura Quarter ending 31 March 1913 Registrar J. F. Pretsch

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

449

21 January 1913

James Adam
Mary Ann Milne

James Adam
Mary Anne Milne
💍 1913/2328

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

27
24

Mataura
Tuturau

10 years
24 years

Residence of Brides father Thos. S. Milne

13/1826

21 January 1913

Rev. J. J. Bull, Mataura

No	449
Date of Notice	21 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Adam	Mary Ann Milne
BDM Match (97%)	James Adam	Mary Anne Milne
	💍 1913/2328
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Mataura	Tuturau
Length of Residence	10 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Brides father Thos. S. Milne
Folio	13/1826
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Bull, Mataura

450

31 January 1913

Alexander McCall Scott
Jessie Agnes Rogerson

Alexander McCall Scott
Jessie Agnes Rogerson
💍 1913/2074

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic

25
22

Otaraia
Otaraia

5 years
22 years

Registrars Office, Mataura

13/1514

31 January 1913

Deputy Registrar, Mataura

No	450
Date of Notice	31 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander McCall Scott	Jessie Agnes Rogerson
	💍 1913/2074
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Otaraia	Otaraia
Length of Residence	5 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Mataura
Folio	13/1514
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar, Mataura

451

5 March 1913

Alexander Kyle
Isabella Kilpatrick

Alexander Kyle
Isabella Kilpatrick
💍 1913/2075

Bachelor
Spinster

Coalminer
Domestic

22
21

Mataura
Mataura

10 months
7 years

Registrars Office, Mataura

13/1515

5 March 1913

Deputy Registrar, Mataura

No	451
Date of Notice	5 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Kyle	Isabella Kilpatrick
	💍 1913/2075
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coalminer	Domestic
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Mataura	Mataura
Length of Residence	10 months	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Mataura
Folio	13/1515
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar, Mataura

452

15 March 1913

Peter Gordon Clements
Mary Eliza Beattie

Peter Gordon Clements
Mary Eliza Beattie
💍 1913/2317

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

35
43

Kaitangata
Kaitangata

4 days
14 days

Residence of Mr J. C. Aburnethy, Mataura

13/1825

15 March 1913

Rev. J. J. Bull, Mataura

No	452
Date of Notice	15 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Gordon Clements	Mary Eliza Beattie
	💍 1913/2317
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	35	43
Dwelling Place	Kaitangata	Kaitangata
Length of Residence	4 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. C. Aburnethy, Mataura
Folio	13/1825
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Bull, Mataura

453

19 March 1913

Jas Drysdale
Ellen Taylor

James Drysdale
Ellen Taylor
💍 1913/2426

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

29
25

Brydone
Brydone

7 years
4 years

Residence of Mr Jas Taylor, Brydone

13/1893

19 March 1913

Rev. J. J. Zylee, Owaka

No	453
Date of Notice	19 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jas Drysdale	Ellen Taylor
BDM Match (93%)	James Drysdale	Ellen Taylor
	💍 1913/2426
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Brydone	Brydone
Length of Residence	7 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Jas Taylor, Brydone
Folio	13/1893
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Zylee, Owaka

454

22 March 1913

John Francis Miller
Annie Marr Cockburn

John Francis Miller
Annie Marr Cockburn
💍 1913/2852

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic

24
23

Dunedin
Mataura

23 years

Church of England, Mataura

13/2621

22 March 1913

Rev. A. Wingfield, Gore

No	454
Date of Notice	22 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Francis Miller	Annie Marr Cockburn
	💍 1913/2852
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Mataura
Length of Residence	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Mataura
Folio	13/2621
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Wingfield, Gore

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).