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 463

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

6 January 1913

Charles Leslie Ingram
Ellen Ada Still

Charles Leslie Ingram
Ellen Ada Still
💍 1913/2569

Bachelor
Spinster

bootmaker

26
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

16 years
18 years

In Knox Church Manse Dunedin

13/2114

6 January 1913

R. E. Davies

No	7
Date of Notice	6 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Leslie Ingram	Ellen Ada Still
	💍 1913/2569
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	bootmaker
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	16 years	18 years
Marriage Place	In Knox Church Manse Dunedin
Folio	13/2114
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1913
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies

6 January 1913

James Riley
Helen Arnett

James Riley
Helen Arnett
💍 1913/2478

Widower
Widow

bricklayer
dressmaker

39
36

Dunedin
Dunedin

9 years
5 years

In the house of the Rev. D. Dutton Caversham

13/2046

6 January 1913

D. Dutton

No	8
Date of Notice	6 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Riley	Helen Arnett
	💍 1913/2478
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	bricklayer	dressmaker
Age	39	36
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	9 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. D. Dutton Caversham
Folio	13/2046
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1913
Officiating Minister	D. Dutton

6 January 1913

Joseph West
Emily Louise Brickell

Joseph West
Emily Louise Brickell
💍 1913/2494

Widower
Spinster

constable

55
36

Roslyn
Roslyn

4 years
10 years

In St John's Church Roslyn

13/1987

6 January 1913

W. A. R. Fitchett

No	9
Date of Notice	6 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph West	Emily Louise Brickell
	💍 1913/2494
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	constable
Age	55	36
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Roslyn
Length of Residence	4 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In St John's Church Roslyn
Folio	13/1987
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1913
Officiating Minister	W. A. R. Fitchett

6 January 1913

Francis Emelton Arthur Gilbert Blackwood
Edith Joy

Francis Emelton Arthur Gilbert Blackwood
Edith Toy
💍 1913/2203

Bachelor
Spinster

labourer

24
20

South Dunedin
South Dunedin

11 months
4 years

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

13/1693

Johanna Toy, mother

6 January 1913

D. J. Murray

No	10
Date of Notice	6 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Emelton Arthur Gilbert Blackwood	Edith Joy
BDM Match (94%)	Francis Emelton Arthur Gilbert Blackwood	Edith Toy
	💍 1913/2203
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	labourer
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	11 months	4 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. D. J. Murray Macandrew Road South Dunedin
Folio	13/1693
Consent	Johanna Toy, mother
Date of Certificate	6 January 1913
Officiating Minister	D. J. Murray

6 January 1913

Thomas Wood Wilson
Edith Ennis May Barrington

Thomas Wood Wilson
Edith Eunis May Barrington
💍 1913/2208

Bachelor
Spinster

grocer
saleswoman

26
21

Mornington
South Dunedin

5 years
14 years

In the Church of Christ Great King Street Dunedin

13/1697

6 January 1913

P. D. McBallum

No	11
Date of Notice	6 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Wood Wilson	Edith Ennis May Barrington
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Wood Wilson	Edith Eunis May Barrington
	💍 1913/2208
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	grocer	saleswoman
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Mornington	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	14 years
Marriage Place	In the Church of Christ Great King Street Dunedin
Folio	13/1697
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1913
Officiating Minister	P. D. McBallum

7 January 1913

Richard Edward Metz
Florence Napier

Richard Edward Metz
Florence Napier
💍 1913/2543

Bachelor
Spinster

Manager
Saleswoman

33
30

Dunedin
Mornington

3 days
2 months

In the house of W. C. C. Napier Brunel Street Mornington

13/2063

6 January 1913

W. J. Ashford

No	12
Date of Notice	7 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Edward Metz	Florence Napier
	💍 1913/2543
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manager	Saleswoman
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Mornington
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	In the house of W. C. C. Napier Brunel Street Mornington
Folio	13/2063
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1913
Officiating Minister	W. J. Ashford

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).