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 477

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

17 February 1913

Sydney James Munn
Annie Myrtle Davies

Sydney James Munn
Annie Myrtle Davies
💍 1913/2125

Bachelor
Spinster

engineer

27
27

Dunedin
Caversham

3 days
2 years

In St Paul's Cathedral Dunedin

13/1590

17 February 1913

H. G. Gould

No	92
Date of Notice	17 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney James Munn	Annie Myrtle Davies
	💍 1913/2125
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	engineer
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Caversham
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	In St Paul's Cathedral Dunedin
Folio	13/1590
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1913
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gould

18 February 1913

James Marr Duthie
Agnes Jack

James Marr Duthie
Agnes Jack
💍 1913/4515

Bachelor
Spinster

stock agent
milliner

25
25

Green Island
Green Island

3 days
3 years

In the Presbyterian Church Concord Burnside

13/1467

18 February 1913

J. Kilpatrick

No	93
Date of Notice	18 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Marr Duthie	Agnes Jack
	💍 1913/4515
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	stock agent	milliner
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Green Island	Green Island
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church Concord Burnside
Folio	13/1467
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1913
Officiating Minister	J. Kilpatrick

18 February 1913

Walter Andrews
Alesha Agnes Gorham

Walter Andrews
Alesha Agnes Gorham
💍 1913/337

Bachelor
Spinster

labourer

19
18

Dunedin
Dunedin

19 years
12 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

13/20

Charles Andrews father, Theresa Gorham mother

18 February 1913

H. Maxwell

No	94
Date of Notice	18 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Andrews	Alesha Agnes Gorham
	💍 1913/337
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	labourer
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	19 years	12 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	13/20
Consent	Charles Andrews father, Theresa Gorham mother
Date of Certificate	18 February 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

19 February 1913

Matthew McNaught Edwards
Euphemia Middleton

Matthew McNaught Edwards
Euphemia Middleton
💍 1913/4763

Bachelor
Spinster

labourer

32
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the house of W. O. Fraser 89 Stuart Street Dunedin

13/4240

James Middleton father

19 February 1913

E. A. Axelsen

No	95
Date of Notice	19 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew McNaught Edwards	Euphemia Middleton
	💍 1913/4763
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	labourer
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of W. O. Fraser 89 Stuart Street Dunedin
Folio	13/4240
Consent	James Middleton father
Date of Certificate	19 February 1913
Officiating Minister	E. A. Axelsen

19 February 1913

Alfred Henry Officer Murdoch
Margaret Marrison

Alfred Henry Officer Murdoch
Margaret Morrison
💍 1913/2064

Bachelor
Spinster

conductor
machinist

25
32

Dunedin
Roslyn

3 days
32 years

In the Methodist Church

13/1605

19 February 1913

J. J. Pinfold

No	96
Date of Notice	19 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Henry Officer Murdoch	Margaret Marrison
BDM Match (97%)	Alfred Henry Officer Murdoch	Margaret Morrison
	💍 1913/2064
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	conductor	machinist
Age	25	32
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Roslyn
Length of Residence	3 days	32 years
Marriage Place	In the Methodist Church
Folio	13/1605
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1913
Officiating Minister	J. J. Pinfold

20 February 1913

Alfred Hicks
Ethel Marion Nicholls

Alfred Hicks
Ethel Marion Nicholls
💍 1913/2048

Bachelor
Spinster

builder

28
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

28 years
22 years

In All Saints Church Dunedin

13/1612

20 February 1913

A. R. Fitchett

No	97
Date of Notice	20 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Hicks	Ethel Marion Nicholls
	💍 1913/2048
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	builder
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	28 years	22 years
Marriage Place	In All Saints Church Dunedin
Folio	13/1612
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1913
Officiating Minister	A. R. Fitchett

21 February 1913

Fred Poole
Alice Taylor

Fred Poole
Alice Taylor
💍 1913/2149

Bachelor
Spinster

brass-finisher

23
21

Mornington
Roslyn

14 months
3 days

In the house of W. W. B. Barnes 6 Belleme Street Roslyn

13/1639

21 February 1913

C. Dallaston

No	98
Date of Notice	21 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred Poole	Alice Taylor
	💍 1913/2149
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	brass-finisher
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Roslyn
Length of Residence	14 months	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of W. W. B. Barnes 6 Belleme Street Roslyn
Folio	13/1639
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1913
Officiating Minister	C. Dallaston

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).