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 495

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 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

205

25 March 1913

William Deuchrass
Lydia Jones

William Deuchrass
Lydia Jones
💍 1913/825

Bachelor
Spinster

labourer

19
17

Dunedin
Dunedin

19 years
17 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

13/233

William Deuchrass, father; Fanny Jones, mother

25 March 1913

H. Maxwell

No	205
Date of Notice	25 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Deuchrass	Lydia Jones
	💍 1913/825
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	labourer
Age	19	17
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	19 years	17 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	13/233
Consent	William Deuchrass, father; Fanny Jones, mother
Date of Certificate	25 March 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

206

25 March 1913

William Milne
Mary Grigor French

William Milne
Mary Grigor French
💍 1913/4852

Bachelor
Spinster

warehouseman

23
25

Roslyn
Roslyn

2 years
4 days

In the house of Mr. W. Kennedy, 55 North Taieri Road, Roslyn

13/4405

25 March 1913

R. R. M. Sutherland

No	206
Date of Notice	25 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Milne	Mary Grigor French
	💍 1913/4852
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	warehouseman
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Roslyn
Length of Residence	2 years	4 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. W. Kennedy, 55 North Taieri Road, Roslyn
Folio	13/4405
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1913
Officiating Minister	R. R. M. Sutherland

207

26 March 1913

Charles Robert Burns
Mary Ann Button

Charles Robert Burns
Mary Ann Button
💍 1913/932

Bachelor
Spinster

insurance agent

34
34

Dunedin
Timaru

34 years
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

13/339

26 March 1913

A. Montgomery

No	207
Date of Notice	26 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Robert Burns	Mary Ann Button
	💍 1913/932
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	insurance agent
Age	34	34
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Timaru
Length of Residence	34 years	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	13/339
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1913
Officiating Minister	A. Montgomery

208

27 March 1913

William Orr McKellar
Catherine Alice Finch

William Eru McKellar
Catherine Alice Finch
💍 1913/2051

Bachelor
Spinster

station manager

35
21

Hampden
Dunedin

5 years
21 years

In All Saints Church Hampden

13/1615

27 March 1913

S. J. Nevill

No	208
Date of Notice	27 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Orr McKellar	Catherine Alice Finch
BDM Match (95%)	William Eru McKellar	Catherine Alice Finch
	💍 1913/2051
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	station manager
Age	35	21
Dwelling Place	Hampden	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In All Saints Church Hampden
Folio	13/1615
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1913
Officiating Minister	S. J. Nevill

209

28 March 1913

Carl Metodius Larson
Mary Bishop Dawson

Carl Melodius Larson
Mary Bishop Dawson
💍 1913/2451

Bachelor
Spinster

orchardist

34
28

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
10 years

In the Presbyterian Church Anderson's Bay

13/2019

28 March 1913

A. Cameron

No	209
Date of Notice	28 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Carl Metodius Larson	Mary Bishop Dawson
BDM Match (98%)	Carl Melodius Larson	Mary Bishop Dawson
	💍 1913/2451
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	orchardist
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church Anderson's Bay
Folio	13/2019
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1913
Officiating Minister	A. Cameron

210

28 March 1913

Arthur Chapman Smith
Laura Oliver Jefcoate

Arthur Chapman Smith
Laura Olive Jefcoate
💍 1913/2181

Bachelor
Spinster

solicitor

26
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

20 years
8 years

In St. Matthew's Church Dunedin

13/1670

28 March 1913

W. Curzon-Siggers

No	210
Date of Notice	28 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Chapman Smith	Laura Oliver Jefcoate
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Chapman Smith	Laura Olive Jefcoate
	💍 1913/2181
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	solicitor
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	8 years
Marriage Place	In St. Matthew's Church Dunedin
Folio	13/1670
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1913
Officiating Minister	W. Curzon-Siggers

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).