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 711

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 September 1913 Registrar Alexander Adam Gain

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

3156

14 July 1913

George Harrison Pilling
Margaret Mary Dwyer

George Harrison Pilling
Margaret Mary Dwyer
💍 1913/6090

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Domestic Servant

23
25

Oamaru
Oamaru

1 week
25 years at Oamaru

In the Roman Catholic Basilica

13/5821

14 July 1913

Rev. Alexander Farthing

No	3156
Date of Notice	14 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Harrison Pilling	Margaret Mary Dwyer
	💍 1913/6090
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic Servant
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	1 week	25 years at Oamaru
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Basilica
Folio	13/5821
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexander Farthing

3157

21 July 1913

Ebenezer Glass
Isabella Irvine

Ebenezer Gloss
Isabella Irvine
💍 1913/6069

Bachelor
Spinster

Boot Importer
Milliner

36
33

Oamaru
Oamaru

16 years
30 years

Residence of Mrs. Margaret Irvine, Reed Street, Oamaru

13/5816

21 July 1913

Rev. A. Hardy Couch

No	3157
Date of Notice	21 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ebenezer Glass	Isabella Irvine
BDM Match (96%)	Ebenezer Gloss	Isabella Irvine
	💍 1913/6069
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boot Importer	Milliner
Age	36	33
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	16 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Margaret Irvine, Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	13/5816
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hardy Couch

3158

24 July 1913

George Oliver
Mary Munro

George Oliver
Mary Munro
💍 1913/6052

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

63
56

North Road, Oamaru
North Road, Oamaru

3 years
1 year

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

13/5807

24 July 1913

Rev. Robert James Porter

No	3158
Date of Notice	24 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Oliver	Mary Munro
	💍 1913/6052
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	63	56
Dwelling Place	North Road, Oamaru	North Road, Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	13/5807
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert James Porter

3159

25 July 1913

Hugh Alexander Boyle
Margaret Hair

Hugh Alexander Boyle
Margaret Hair
💍 1913/6053

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
25

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
20 years

In the residence of Mr. James Hair, Waiareka

13/5808

25 July 1913

Rev. Robert James Porter

No	3159
Date of Notice	25 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Alexander Boyle	Margaret Hair
	💍 1913/6053
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mr. James Hair, Waiareka
Folio	13/5808
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert James Porter

3160

6 August 1913

Thomas Martin Sullivan
Frances Mary Mansfield

Thomas Martin Sullivan
Frances Mary Mansfield
💍 1913/8856

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
20

Oamaru
Oamaru

9 months
3 years at Oamaru

The Roman Catholic Church

13/8360

Michael Mansfield, Father

6 August 1913

Rev. Alexander Farthing

No	3160
Date of Notice	6 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Martin Sullivan	Frances Mary Mansfield
	💍 1913/8856
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	9 months	3 years at Oamaru
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church
Folio	13/8360
Consent	Michael Mansfield, Father
Date of Certificate	6 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexander Farthing

3161

6 August 1913

William Henry McEvoy
Honora Frances Ross

William Henry McEvoy
Honora Frances Ross
💍 1913/8857

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
General Servant

25
22

Enfield
Enfield

5 years
20 years at Oamaru

Roman Catholic Church

13/8361

6 August 1913

Rev. Alexander Farthing

No	3161
Date of Notice	6 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry McEvoy	Honora Frances Ross
	💍 1913/8857
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	General Servant
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Enfield	Enfield
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years at Oamaru
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	13/8361
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexander Farthing

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).