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 141

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1913 Registrar Frank Evans

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

600

12 August 1913

John Swan Baxter
Margaret Rountree

John Swan Baxter
Margaret Rountree
💍 1913/8655

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
28

Christchurch
Marsland

3 days
28 years

Church of England, Marsland

8511

12 August 1913

Rev. T. M. Curnow

No	600
Date of Notice	12 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Swan Baxter	Margaret Rountree
	💍 1913/8655
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Marsland
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Marsland
Folio	8511
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. M. Curnow

601

13 August 1913

Henry Edward Kerr
Isabelle Maria Foster

Henry Edward Kerr
Isabelle Maria Foster
💍 1913/8949

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
32

New Brighton
New Brighton

3 days
3 weeks

Beach Church, New Brighton

8305

13 August 1913

Rev. H. H. Mathias

No	601
Date of Notice	13 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Edward Kerr	Isabelle Maria Foster
	💍 1913/8949
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	New Brighton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Beach Church, New Brighton
Folio	8305
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. H. Mathias

602

13 August 1913

Albert Leonidas Cropp
Lilian Jane Edmonds

Albert Leonidas Cropp
Lilian Jane Edmonds
💍 1913/3525

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

32
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

20 years
29 years

House of Mr. T. J. Edmonds, 240 Gloucester St.

13/5591

13 August 1913

Rev. J. Sarginson

No	602
Date of Notice	13 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Leonidas Cropp	Lilian Jane Edmonds
	💍 1913/3525
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	29 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. T. J. Edmonds, 240 Gloucester St.
Folio	13/5591
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Sarginson

603

15 August 1913

Thomas Baxter
Edith Eliza Jones

Thomas Baxter
Edith Eliza Jones
💍 1913/6532

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

44
41

Riccarton
Riccarton

3 days
3 days

House of Mr. A. E. Campbell, 72 Division Rd

13/5916

15 August 1913

Rev. C. W. Duncomb

No	603
Date of Notice	15 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Baxter	Edith Eliza Jones
	💍 1913/6532
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	44	41
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Riccarton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	House of Mr. A. E. Campbell, 72 Division Rd
Folio	13/5916
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. Duncomb

604

16 August 1913

Frank Halligan
Emma Pegg

Frank Halligan
Emma Pegg
💍 1913/8652

Divorced
Spinster

Carrier

40
32

Linwood
Linwood

18 months
7 months

Methodist Church, Cambridge Terrace

8500

16 August 1913

Rev. B. Metson

No	604
Date of Notice	16 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Halligan	Emma Pegg
	💍 1913/8652
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	40	32
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	18 months	7 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Cambridge Terrace
Folio	8500
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Metson

605

18 August 1913

William James Veitch
Christina Maun Ross

William James Veitch
Christina Munro Ross
💍 1913/5872

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman, N.Z.R.
Domestic duties

35
30

Spreydon
Sydenham

22 years
4 years

St. Paul's Church, Christchurch

13/5630

18 August 1913

Rev. T. Tait

No	605
Date of Notice	18 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Veitch	Christina Maun Ross
BDM Match (93%)	William James Veitch	Christina Munro Ross
	💍 1913/5872
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman, N.Z.R.	Domestic duties
Age	35	30
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Sydenham
Length of Residence	22 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	13/5630
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Tait

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).