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 499

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 June 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

223

2 April 1913

Robert Alexander Hosie
Bertha Mabel Nairn

Robert Alexander Hosie
Bertha Mabel Nairn
💍 1913/4606

Bachelor
Widow

modeller

26
27

Roslyn
Dunedin

13 years
1 year

In the house of Mr R Hosie, 35 Thomson Street, Roslyn

13/3883

2 April 1913

R. R. M. Sutherland

No	223
Date of Notice	2 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Alexander Hosie	Bertha Mabel Nairn
	💍 1913/4606
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	modeller
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Dunedin
Length of Residence	13 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr R Hosie, 35 Thomson Street, Roslyn
Folio	13/3883
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1913
Officiating Minister	R. R. M. Sutherland

224

2 April 1913

Wilfrid George St. John White
Linda Constance Fenwick

Wilfrid George St John White
Linda Constance Fenwick
💍 1913/4370

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer

40
35

Dunedin
Mornington

3 days
35 years

In St Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin

13/3870

2 April 1913

H. G. Gould

No	224
Date of Notice	2 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfrid George St. John White	Linda Constance Fenwick
BDM Match (98%)	Wilfrid George St John White	Linda Constance Fenwick
	💍 1913/4370
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer
Age	40	35
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Mornington
Length of Residence	3 days	35 years
Marriage Place	In St Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	13/3870
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1913
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gould

225

3 April 1913

Peter Sneddon Ramage
Catherine Peebles Grieve

Peter Snedden Ramage
Catherine Peebles Grieve
💍 1913/4583

Bachelor
Spinster

cloth finisher
mill hand

25
27

Roslyn
Roslyn

3 years
3 days

In the house of Mr G Ramage, 14 Church Street, Roslyn

13/3884

3 April 1913

R. R. M. Sutherland

No	225
Date of Notice	3 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Sneddon Ramage	Catherine Peebles Grieve
BDM Match (98%)	Peter Snedden Ramage	Catherine Peebles Grieve
	💍 1913/4583
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	cloth finisher	mill hand
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Roslyn
Length of Residence	3 years	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr G Ramage, 14 Church Street, Roslyn
Folio	13/3884
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1913
Officiating Minister	R. R. M. Sutherland

226

4 April 1913

George Edward Little
Mary Little Harlow

George Edward Little
Mary Little Harlow
💍 1913/4281

Bachelor
Spinster

draper

45
30

Roslyn
Dunedin

7 weeks
4 months

In the house of Mr G. S. Simpson, 56 Cargill Street, Dunedin

13/3807

4 April 1913

R. E. Davies

No	226
Date of Notice	4 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Little	Mary Little Harlow
	💍 1913/4281
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	draper
Age	45	30
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 weeks	4 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr G. S. Simpson, 56 Cargill Street, Dunedin
Folio	13/3807
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1913
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies

227

4 April 1913

James Black Dreaver
Aroha Mura Dreaver

James Black
Aroha Mura Dreaver
💍 1913/4282

Bachelor
Spinster

engineer

34
29

Dunedin
Dunedin

34 years
29 years

In the house of Mr E. B. Dreaver, 92 Clyde Street, Dunedin

13/3808

4 April 1913

R. E. Davies

No	227
Date of Notice	4 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Black Dreaver	Aroha Mura Dreaver
BDM Match (79%)	James Black	Aroha Mura Dreaver
	💍 1913/4282
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	engineer
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	34 years	29 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr E. B. Dreaver, 92 Clyde Street, Dunedin
Folio	13/3808
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1913
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies

228

5 April 1913

James Rendle Harvey
Eleanor Annie Harvey

James Rendle
Eleanor Annie Harvey
💍 1913/4376

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer

29
27

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 week
20 years

In St Martin's Church, North East Valley

13/3853

5 April 1913

W. H. Roberts

No	228
Date of Notice	5 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Rendle Harvey	Eleanor Annie Harvey
BDM Match (82%)	James Rendle	Eleanor Annie Harvey
	💍 1913/4376
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 week	20 years
Marriage Place	In St Martin's Church, North East Valley
Folio	13/3853
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1913
Officiating Minister	W. H. Roberts

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).