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 717

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 1913 Registrar Alexander Adam Gair

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

3175

23 October 1913

Robert Kydd
Elizabeth Isabella Porteous Orr

Robert Kydd
Elizabeth Isabella Porteous Orr
💍 1913/8259

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Surfaceman
Domestic duties

25
25

Ngapara
Ngapara

4 days
23 years

Residence of Alexander Orr, Ngapara

13/8024

23 October 1913

Rev. Henry Clark

No	3175
Date of Notice	23 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Kydd	Elizabeth Isabella Porteous Orr
	💍 1913/8259
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Surfaceman	Domestic duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Ngapara	Ngapara
Length of Residence	4 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Alexander Orr, Ngapara
Folio	13/8024
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Clark

3176

25 October 1913

Joshua Morley Hetherington
Nellie Curran

Joshua Morley Hetherington
Nellie Curran
💍 1913/8687

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Duties

30
23

Oamaru
Oamaru

2 years
23 years

In the Roman Catholic Church, Oamaru

13/8616

25 October 1913

Rev. John Tobin

No	3176
Date of Notice	25 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joshua Morley Hetherington	Nellie Curran
	💍 1913/8687
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church, Oamaru
Folio	13/8616
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Tobin

3177

29 October 1913

Clarence Chambers
Winifred Jessamine Newman

Clarence Chambers
Winifred Jessamine Newman
💍 1913/7049

Bachelor
Spinster

Bedstead Manufacturer
Domestic Duties

21
20

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
15 years

In the Office of the Registrar, Oamaru

13/675

No one in Dominion authority to give consent

13 November 1913

Registrar of Marriages

No	3177
Date of Notice	29 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Chambers	Winifred Jessamine Newman
	💍 1913/7049
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bedstead Manufacturer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	15 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar, Oamaru
Folio	13/675
Consent	No one in Dominion authority to give consent
Date of Certificate	13 November 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

3178

29 October 1913

Francis Alfred Sidon
Margaret Johnston

Francis Alfred Sidon
Margaret Johnston
💍 1913/8283

John Stanton
Margaret Johnston
💍 1913/2500

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Servant

26
24

Oamaru
Awamoko

26 years
24 years

Royal Hotel, Oamaru

13/8031

29 October 1913

Rev. Robert James Porter

No	3178
Date of Notice	29 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Alfred Sidon	Margaret Johnston
	💍 1913/8283
BDM Match (60%)	John Stanton	Margaret Johnston
	💍 1913/2500
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Servant
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Awamoko
Length of Residence	26 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Royal Hotel, Oamaru
Folio	13/8031
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert James Porter

3179

31 October 1913

Alexander Fullerton
Alison Fullerton

Alexander Fullerton
Alison Fullerton
💍 1913/8807

Widower
Spinster

Miner
Household Duties

55
38

Kakanui
Oamaru

2 years
4 years

Residence of Mr. George Cox, Beach Road, Oamaru

13/8187

31 October 1913

Rev. John Steven

No	3179
Date of Notice	31 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Fullerton	Alison Fullerton
	💍 1913/8807
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Household Duties
Age	55	38
Dwelling Place	Kakanui	Oamaru
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. George Cox, Beach Road, Oamaru
Folio	13/8187
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Steven

3180

5 November 1913

Rodney Lee
Clara Robina Smart

Rodney Lee
Clara Robina Smart
💍 1913/8292

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
Domestic Servant

22
21

Oamaru
Eveline

3 years
21 years

Residence of Mr. G. D. Smart, Eveline

13/8034

5 November 1913

Rev. William Wright

No	3180
Date of Notice	5 November 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rodney Lee	Clara Robina Smart
	💍 1913/8292
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Domestic Servant
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Eveline
Length of Residence	3 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. G. D. Smart, Eveline
Folio	13/8034
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Wright

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).