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 489

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

166

14 March 1913

Richard Devaney
Mary Ellen Power

Richard Devaney
Mary Ellen Power
💍 1913/2188

Bachelor
Spinster

ironmoulder

33
38

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 years
38 years

In St Joseph's Cathedral Dunedin

13/1654

14 March 1913

J. Coffey

No	166
Date of Notice	14 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Devaney	Mary Ellen Power
	💍 1913/2188
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	ironmoulder
Age	33	38
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 years	38 years
Marriage Place	In St Joseph's Cathedral Dunedin
Folio	13/1654
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1913
Officiating Minister	J. Coffey

167

14 March 1913

Alfred Simmons
Agnes Isabella Mant Penny

Alfred Simmons
Agnes Isabella Mant Penny
💍 1913/822

Bachelor
Spinster

commercial traveller

22
17

Dunedin
Dunedin

9 months
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

13/230

Michael Charles Mant Penny, father of bride

14 March 1913

H. Maxwell

No	167
Date of Notice	14 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Simmons	Agnes Isabella Mant Penny
	💍 1913/822
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	commercial traveller
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	9 months	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	13/230
Consent	Michael Charles Mant Penny, father of bride
Date of Certificate	14 March 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

168

15 March 1913

Joseph Willcocks
Caroline Obbard

Joseph Willcocks
Caroline Obbard
💍 1913/2481

Bachelor
Spinster

labourer

29
34

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 months
6 years

In the house of the Rev. D. Dutton, 37 Marion Street, Caversham

13/2049

15 March 1913

D. Dutton

No	168
Date of Notice	15 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Willcocks	Caroline Obbard
	💍 1913/2481
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	labourer
Age	29	34
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 months	6 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. D. Dutton, 37 Marion Street, Caversham
Folio	13/2049
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1913
Officiating Minister	D. Dutton

169

15 March 1913

Henry Louis Seidelin
Elizabeth Grace Grenfell

Henry Louis Seidelin
Elizabeth Grace Grenfell
💍 1913/2045

Bachelor
Spinster

carpenter

33
30

Mornington
Mornington

33 years
20 years

In the house of W. W. Grenfell, 13 Cooper Street, Mornington

13/1601

15 March 1913

W. Scorgie

No	169
Date of Notice	15 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Louis Seidelin	Elizabeth Grace Grenfell
	💍 1913/2045
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	carpenter
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Mornington
Length of Residence	33 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the house of W. W. Grenfell, 13 Cooper Street, Mornington
Folio	13/1601
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1913
Officiating Minister	W. Scorgie

170

15 March 1913

Peter McDonald
Harriet Osborne

Peter McDonald
Harriet Osborne
💍 1913/2055

Bachelor
Spinster

boarding house keeper
saleswoman

29
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

27 years
24 years

In the Octagon Hall Dunedin

13/1619

15 March 1913

W. Slade

No	170
Date of Notice	15 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter McDonald	Harriet Osborne
	💍 1913/2055
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	boarding house keeper	saleswoman
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	27 years	24 years
Marriage Place	In the Octagon Hall Dunedin
Folio	13/1619
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1913
Officiating Minister	W. Slade

171

15 March 1913

Alston Hadfield McLean
Raby Frances Hubble

Alston Hadfield McLean
Raby Frances Hubble
💍 1913/2744

Bachelor
Spinster

marine engineer

28
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

25 years
18 years

In the house of Mr. J. Hubble, 43 Signal Hill Road, North East Valley

13/1714

15 March 1913

H. B. Gray

No	171
Date of Notice	15 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alston Hadfield McLean	Raby Frances Hubble
	💍 1913/2744
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	marine engineer
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	25 years	18 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. J. Hubble, 43 Signal Hill Road, North East Valley
Folio	13/1714
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1913
Officiating Minister	H. B. Gray

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).