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 858

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 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

8 February 1913

Arthur Corrie Giles
Esther Ewell

Arthur Corrie Miles
Esther Cull
💍 1913/2305

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Dressmaker

25
20

Invercargill
Onehunga, Invercargill

6 years
2 years 5 months

Residence of R.M. Ryburn, Tay St, Invercargill

13/1796

8 February 1913

Rev. R.M. Ryburn

No	19
Date of Notice	8 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Corrie Giles	Esther Ewell
BDM Match (85%)	Arthur Corrie Miles	Esther Cull
	💍 1913/2305
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Dressmaker
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Onehunga, Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 years	2 years 5 months
Marriage Place	Residence of R.M. Ryburn, Tay St, Invercargill
Folio	13/1796
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. R.M. Ryburn

10 February 1913

Percival Charles Starledine
Guillermina Henderson

Percival Charles Hazeldine
Guillerma Constance Henderson
💍 1913/2290

Bachelor
Spinster

Commission Agent
Clerk

22
20

Tay St, Invercargill
Earn St, Invercargill

3 days
8 weeks

English Church, Invercargill

13/1807

10 February 1913

Rev. T.H. Perrett

No	20
Date of Notice	10 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Charles Starledine	Guillermina Henderson
BDM Match (75%)	Percival Charles Hazeldine	Guillerma Constance Henderson
	💍 1913/2290
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commission Agent	Clerk
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Tay St, Invercargill	Earn St, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	8 weeks
Marriage Place	English Church, Invercargill
Folio	13/1807
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. T.H. Perrett

10 February 1913

Joseph Henry Dillon
Margaret Hannah Creament

Joseph Henry Dillon
Margaret Hannah Cresmer
💍 1913/2279

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

38
20

Woodlands, Invercargill
Woodlands, Invercargill

4 months
20 years

Residence of Henry Creament, Woodlands, Invercargill

13/1819

Henry Creament, father

10 February 1913

Rev. L. Enticott

No	21
Date of Notice	10 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Henry Dillon	Margaret Hannah Creament
BDM Match (94%)	Joseph Henry Dillon	Margaret Hannah Cresmer
	💍 1913/2279
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	38	20
Dwelling Place	Woodlands, Invercargill	Woodlands, Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Henry Creament, Woodlands, Invercargill
Folio	13/1819
Consent	Henry Creament, father
Date of Certificate	10 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. Enticott

19 February 1913

Frederick William Compton
Rose Butler

Frederick William Compton
Rose Butler
💍 1913/942

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

29
30

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
29 years

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

13/348

19 February 1913

Deputy Registrar of Marriages

No	22
Date of Notice	19 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Compton	Rose Butler
	💍 1913/942
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	29 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	13/348
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar of Marriages

19 February 1913

Hugh Burwell Mehaffey
Kathleen Elizabeth Mehaffey

Hugh Carswell
Kathleen Elizabeth Mehaffey
💍 1913/2286

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

26
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
21 years

St. Paul's Church, Invercargill

13/1803

19 February 1913

Rev. J.M. Burnage

No	23
Date of Notice	19 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Burwell Mehaffey	Kathleen Elizabeth Mehaffey
BDM Match (71%)	Hugh Carswell	Kathleen Elizabeth Mehaffey
	💍 1913/2286
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Invercargill
Folio	13/1803
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.M. Burnage

21 February 1913

Robert Paterson Park
Elizabeth Alice Hewlett

Robert Paterson Pate
Elizabeth Alice Hewlett
💍 1913/2272

Widower
Spinster

Engine Driver
Domestic

56
44

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 years
37 years

Residence of M. Ann Hewlett, Invercargill

13/1812

21 February 1913

Rev. C.D. Gardiner

No	24
Date of Notice	21 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Paterson Park	Elizabeth Alice Hewlett
BDM Match (95%)	Robert Paterson Pate	Elizabeth Alice Hewlett
	💍 1913/2272
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic
Age	56	44
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	37 years
Marriage Place	Residence of M. Ann Hewlett, Invercargill
Folio	13/1812
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. C.D. Gardiner

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).