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 946

District of Riverton Quarter ending 30 June 1913 Registrar J. Macfarlane

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

898

10 June 1913

Thomas Arthur Bruce
Christina Corbet Johnston

Thomas Arthur Bruce
Christina Corbet Johnston
💍 1913/4411

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

23
17

Fairfax
Fairfax

2 years
18 months

At the private residence of Mr. Scott Symington, Fairfax

13/4013

John Wilson Johnston (Father)

10 June 1913

Rev. Cyprian Webb (Church of England)

No	898
Date of Notice	10 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Arthur Bruce	Christina Corbet Johnston
	💍 1913/4411
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	17
Dwelling Place	Fairfax	Fairfax
Length of Residence	2 years	18 months
Marriage Place	At the private residence of Mr. Scott Symington, Fairfax
Folio	13/4013
Consent	John Wilson Johnston (Father)
Date of Certificate	10 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Cyprian Webb (Church of England)

899

20 June 1913

John Robert Mills
Margaret Kealy

John Robert Mills
Margaret Kealy
💍 1913/4413

Widower
Spinster

Auctioneer
Domestic Duties

73
61

Riverton
Riverton

50 years
43 years

At the private residence of Mr. John Robert Mills, South Riverton

13/4015

20 June 1913

Rev. B. A. Gray (Presbyterian)

No	899
Date of Notice	20 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robert Mills	Margaret Kealy
	💍 1913/4413
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer	Domestic Duties
Age	73	61
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	50 years	43 years
Marriage Place	At the private residence of Mr. John Robert Mills, South Riverton
Folio	13/4015
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. A. Gray (Presbyterian)

900

24 June 1913

Francis Henry Donovan
Margaret Hayes

Frederick George Upton
Margaret Hayes
💍 1913/1176

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Domestic duties

27
21

Longwood
Riverton

6 years
21 years

The Roman Catholic Church at Riverton

13/4018

24 June 1913

Rev. P. Murphy (Roman Catholic)

No	900
Date of Notice	24 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Henry Donovan	Margaret Hayes
BDM Match (66%)	Frederick George Upton	Margaret Hayes
	💍 1913/1176
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Longwood	Riverton
Length of Residence	6 years	21 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church at Riverton
Folio	13/4018
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Murphy (Roman Catholic)

901

25 June 1913

Arthur William Spencer
Margaret Thomas

Arthur William Spencer
Margaret Thomas
💍 1913/6568

Bachelor
Spinster

Stoker
Domestic Duties

23
21

Riverton
Riverton

3 years
1 year

At the private residence of Mrs. Elizabeth Spencer, South Riverton

13/6184

25 June 1913

Rev. James Morland (Church of England)

No	901
Date of Notice	25 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur William Spencer	Margaret Thomas
	💍 1913/6568
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stoker	Domestic Duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	At the private residence of Mrs. Elizabeth Spencer, South Riverton
Folio	13/6184
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Morland (Church of England)

902

30 June 1913

Andrew McLaren McCallum
Catherine McDonagh

Andrew Mclaren McCallum
Catherine Mcdonagh
💍 1913/6076

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

25
25

Thornbury
Thornbury

5 years
6 weeks

At the private residence of Mrs. Wm. Glymont, Thornbury

13/5831

30 June 1913

Rev. B. A. Gray (Presbyterian)

No	902
Date of Notice	30 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew McLaren McCallum	Catherine McDonagh
BDM Match (95%)	Andrew Mclaren McCallum	Catherine Mcdonagh
	💍 1913/6076
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Thornbury	Thornbury
Length of Residence	5 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	At the private residence of Mrs. Wm. Glymont, Thornbury
Folio	13/5831
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. A. Gray (Presbyterian)

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).