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 556

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 December 1913 Registrar Henry Maxwell

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

550

21 October 1913

George Albert Churchill
Mary Ann Wallace Shanks

George Albert Churchill
Mary Ann Wallace Shanks
💍 1913/8231

Bachelor
Spinster

clerk

20
22

Dunedin
West Harbour

20 years
22 years

In the house of Mr. Geo. Churchill, 17 Forth Street, Dunedin

7997

George Churchill, father

21 October 1913

C. Wallaston

No	550
Date of Notice	21 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Albert Churchill	Mary Ann Wallace Shanks
	💍 1913/8231
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	clerk
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	West Harbour
Length of Residence	20 years	22 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Geo. Churchill, 17 Forth Street, Dunedin
Folio	7997
Consent	George Churchill, father
Date of Certificate	21 October 1913
Officiating Minister	C. Wallaston

551

21 October 1913

Thomas Gray
Jane Parker

Thomas Gray
Jane Parker
💍 1913/8154

Thomas O'Dea
Frances Parker
💍 1913/5040

James Gilmour
Jane Parker
💍 1913/1221

Bachelor
Spinster

miner
dressmaker

47
35

Abbotsford
Dunedin

14 years
13 years

In the house of Mr. Thos. Parker, 39 Brunswick Street, South Dunedin

7920

21 October 1913

R. Fairmaid

No	551
Date of Notice	21 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Gray	Jane Parker
	💍 1913/8154
BDM Match (65%)	Thomas O'Dea	Frances Parker
	💍 1913/5040
BDM Match (62%)	James Gilmour	Jane Parker
	💍 1913/1221
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	miner	dressmaker
Age	47	35
Dwelling Place	Abbotsford	Dunedin
Length of Residence	14 years	13 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Thos. Parker, 39 Brunswick Street, South Dunedin
Folio	7920
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1913
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

552

22 October 1913

Allan Neil McKinnon Wilson
Barbara Catherine Isbister

Allan Neil McKinnon Wilson
Barbara Catherine Isbister
💍 1913/8181

Bachelor
Spinster

bricklayer

31
27

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
15 months

In the house of Mr. G. Munroe, 77 Cumberland Street, Dunedin

7972

22 October 1913

J. K. McIntyre

No	552
Date of Notice	22 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Neil McKinnon Wilson	Barbara Catherine Isbister
	💍 1913/8181
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	bricklayer
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	15 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. G. Munroe, 77 Cumberland Street, Dunedin
Folio	7972
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1913
Officiating Minister	J. K. McIntyre

553

22 October 1913

Paul Renton
Margaret McEwen

Paul Renton
Margaret McEwen
💍 1913/8843

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer
tailoress

38
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 weeks

In Knox Church, Dunedin

8346

22 October 1913

R. E. Davies

No	553
Date of Notice	22 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Paul Renton	Margaret McEwen
	💍 1913/8843
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer	tailoress
Age	38	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	In Knox Church, Dunedin
Folio	8346
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1913
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies

554

22 October 1913

William Ernest Gaudin
Violet May Milford

William Ernest Gaudin
Violet May Milford
💍 1913/8225

Bachelor
Spinster

slaughterman

26
19

Dunedin
Dunedin

9 days
19 years

In the house of Mr. R. Milford, 8 Felix Street, North East Valley

7991

Richard Milford, father

22 October 1913

J. Carlisle

No	554
Date of Notice	22 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ernest Gaudin	Violet May Milford
	💍 1913/8225
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	slaughterman
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	9 days	19 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. R. Milford, 8 Felix Street, North East Valley
Folio	7991
Consent	Richard Milford, father
Date of Certificate	22 October 1913
Officiating Minister	J. Carlisle

555

22 October 1913

James Kinloch McIntyre
Clare Westropp Smyth

James Kinloch McIntyre
Clare Westropp Smyth
💍 1913/6889

Bachelor
Spinster

labourer

31
28

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

13/6600

22 October 1913

H. Maxwell

No	555
Date of Notice	22 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Kinloch McIntyre	Clare Westropp Smyth
	💍 1913/6889
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	labourer
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	13/6600
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

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).