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 467

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

22 January 1913

John Leslie Broadbent
Marion Grant McLean

John Leslie Broadbent
Marion Grant McLean
💍 1913/2145

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

23
27

South Dunedin
Green Island

3 days
2 years

In the Waratah Tea Rooms, George Street, Dunedin

13/1635

22 January 1913

J. F. Jones

No	31
Date of Notice	22 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Leslie Broadbent	Marion Grant McLean
	💍 1913/2145
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	Green Island
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	In the Waratah Tea Rooms, George Street, Dunedin
Folio	13/1635
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1913
Officiating Minister	J. F. Jones

22 January 1913

Roderick Oswald Heazlewood
Margaret Dallas Murray

Roderick Oswald Heazlewood
Margaret Dallas
💍 1913/2202

Bachelor
Spinster

carpenter

21
24

South Dunedin
South Dunedin

7 years
2 years

In the house of the Rev. D. J. Murray, Macandrew Road, South Dunedin

13/1692

22 January 1913

D. J. Murray

No	32
Date of Notice	22 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roderick Oswald Heazlewood	Margaret Dallas Murray
BDM Match (84%)	Roderick Oswald Heazlewood	Margaret Dallas
	💍 1913/2202
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	carpenter
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. D. J. Murray, Macandrew Road, South Dunedin
Folio	13/1692
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1913
Officiating Minister	D. J. Murray

22 January 1913

William John Saunders
Isabel Hutton

Wiliam John Saunders
Isabel Hutton
💍 1913/2172

Bachelor
Spinster

baker

21
19

South Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
3 years

In the house of W. D. Hutton, 32 Duncan Street, Dunedin

13/1660

Donald Hutton

22 January 1913

J. Coffey

No	33
Date of Notice	22 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Saunders	Isabel Hutton
BDM Match (98%)	Wiliam John Saunders	Isabel Hutton
	💍 1913/2172
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	baker
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of W. D. Hutton, 32 Duncan Street, Dunedin
Folio	13/1660
Consent	Donald Hutton
Date of Certificate	22 January 1913
Officiating Minister	J. Coffey

24 January 1913

Henry Wright
Mary Jane May Dowie

Henry Wright
Mary Jane May Dowie
💍 1913/2215

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer

32
32

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 week
32 years

In the Baptist Church, North East Valley

13/1681

24 January 1913

J. Carlisle

No	34
Date of Notice	24 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Wright	Mary Jane May Dowie
	💍 1913/2215
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 week	32 years
Marriage Place	In the Baptist Church, North East Valley
Folio	13/1681
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1913
Officiating Minister	J. Carlisle

25 January 1913

Andrew Price
Lillian Thomas

Andrew Price
Lillian Thomas
💍 1913/332

Bachelor
Spinster

bootmaker
dressmaker

21
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 months
3 months

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

13/214

25 January 1913

H. Maxwell

No	35
Date of Notice	25 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Price	Lillian Thomas
	💍 1913/332
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	bootmaker	dressmaker
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 months	3 months
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	13/214
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

25 January 1913

Gilbert Storer
Mabel Rutherford

Gilbert Storer
Mabel Rutherford
💍 1913/2147

Bachelor
Spinster

labourer

25
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 month
4 months

In the house of W. S. Rutherford, 444 George Street, Dunedin

13/1637

25 January 1913

C. Dallaston

No	36
Date of Notice	25 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Storer	Mabel Rutherford
	💍 1913/2147
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	labourer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 month	4 months
Marriage Place	In the house of W. S. Rutherford, 444 George Street, Dunedin
Folio	13/1637
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 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).