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 534

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 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

424

21 July 1913

William John Bye
Matilda Rowena Morris

William John Pye
Matilda Rowena Morris
💍 1913/8375

Bachelor
Spinster

clerk

20
26

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 days
5 days

In the Salvation Army Home, 82 Heriot Row, Dunedin

8141

4 August 1913

J. J. Toomer

No	424
Date of Notice	21 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Bye	Matilda Rowena Morris
BDM Match (97%)	William John Pye	Matilda Rowena Morris
	💍 1913/8375
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	clerk
Age	20	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	In the Salvation Army Home, 82 Heriot Row, Dunedin
Folio	8141
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1913
Officiating Minister	J. J. Toomer

425

22 July 1913

James Winchmore McLean
Effie Cora Cox

James Winchmore McLean
Effie Cora Cox
💍 1913/8679

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer

22
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
6 months

In the house of Wm. F. Cox, 89 Dundas Street, Dunedin

8619

22 July 1913

R. S. Gray

No	425
Date of Notice	22 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Winchmore McLean	Effie Cora Cox
	💍 1913/8679
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Wm. F. Cox, 89 Dundas Street, Dunedin
Folio	8619
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1913
Officiating Minister	R. S. Gray

426

22 July 1913

Frederick Herbert Stokes
Grace Douglas Sutton

Frederick Herbert Stokes
Grace Douglas Sutton
💍 1913/6361

Bachelor
Spinster

musician

34
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
21 years

In St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin

13/6147

22 July 1913

J. Coffey

No	426
Date of Notice	22 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Herbert Stokes	Grace Douglas Sutton
	💍 1913/6361
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	musician
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	13/6147
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1913
Officiating Minister	J. Coffey

427

23 July 1913

Robert Agnew
Ellen Jane McCracken

Robert Agnew
Ellen Jane McCracken
💍 1913/5012

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer

29
28

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
28 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

13/4689

23 July 1913

H. Maxwell

No	427
Date of Notice	23 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Agnew	Ellen Jane McCracken
	💍 1913/5012
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	13/4689
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

428

23 July 1913

William Jackson Semple Wallace
Wilhelmina Mary Page

William Jackson Lemple Wallace
Wilhelmina Mary Page
💍 1913/6032

Bachelor
Spinster

butcher

25
18

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
15 years

In the house of Mrs. F. Scoones, Felix Street, North East Valley

13/5760

Mary Scoones, Lavinia

23 July 1913

G. H. Balfour

No	428
Date of Notice	23 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Jackson Semple Wallace	Wilhelmina Mary Page
BDM Match (98%)	William Jackson Lemple Wallace	Wilhelmina Mary Page
	💍 1913/6032
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	butcher
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	15 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs. F. Scoones, Felix Street, North East Valley
Folio	13/5760
Consent	Mary Scoones, Lavinia
Date of Certificate	23 July 1913
Officiating Minister	G. H. Balfour

429

24 July 1913

John Adam Moyle
Helen Louisa Daisy Munro

John Adam Moyle
Helen Louisa Daisy Munro
💍 1913/5013

Widower
Spinster

surfaceman

30
19

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

13/4690

George Munro

24 July 1913

H. Maxwell

No	429
Date of Notice	24 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Adam Moyle	Helen Louisa Daisy Munro
	💍 1913/5013
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	surfaceman
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	13/4690
Consent	George Munro
Date of Certificate	24 July 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).