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 024

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 1913 Registrar William Winsbury White

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

754

29 August 1913

George Albert Mehrtens
Mary Louisa Jimms

George Albert Mehrtens
Mary Louisa Timms
💍 1913/8960

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

35
33

Otakeho
Tinwald

3 days
5 years

Church of England

13/8465

29 August 1913

Rev. H. B. Jones

No	754
Date of Notice	29 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Albert Mehrtens	Mary Louisa Jimms
BDM Match (97%)	George Albert Mehrtens	Mary Louisa Timms
	💍 1913/8960
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Otakeho	Tinwald
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	13/8465
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Jones

755

3 September 1913

Fred Johnson
Hetty Maud Long

Fred Johnson
Hetty Maud Long
💍 1913/8951

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

37
24

Seafield, Rakaia
Kyle

3 years
7 years

at the residence Wm Long, Kyle

13/8307

3 September 1913

Rev. T. Woollask

No	755
Date of Notice	3 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred Johnson	Hetty Maud Long
	💍 1913/8951
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	37	24
Dwelling Place	Seafield, Rakaia	Kyle
Length of Residence	3 years	7 years
Marriage Place	at the residence Wm Long, Kyle
Folio	13/8307
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Woollask

756

3 September 1913

William McKay
Kate Stewart

William McKay
Kate Stewart
💍 1913/6116

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

42
31

Tinwald
Tinwald

42 years
31 years

Presbyterian Church, Tinwald

13/5676

3 September 1913

Rev. J. C. Hill

No	756
Date of Notice	3 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McKay	Kate Stewart
	💍 1913/6116
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	42	31
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Tinwald
Length of Residence	42 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tinwald
Folio	13/5676
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Hill

757

6 September 1913

Albert Henry Parish
Alice Louisa Sandford

Albert Henry Parish
Alice Louisa Sanford
💍 1913/6117

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

34
31

Huntingdon
Tinwald

34 years
3 weeks

Presbyterian Church, Tinwald

13/5677

6 September 1913

Rev. J. C. Hill

No	757
Date of Notice	6 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Henry Parish	Alice Louisa Sandford
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Henry Parish	Alice Louisa Sanford
	💍 1913/6117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	34	31
Dwelling Place	Huntingdon	Tinwald
Length of Residence	34 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tinwald
Folio	13/5677
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Hill

758

15 September 1913

Thomas Sinton Rowan
Mary Jane Solway

Thomas Sinton Rowan
Mary Jane Solway
💍 1913/5175

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

26
18

Kihikihi
Hampstead

3 days
18 years

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

13/489

Lucy Solway, mother of minor

15 September 1913

W. W. White, Registrar

No	758
Date of Notice	15 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Sinton Rowan	Mary Jane Solway
	💍 1913/5175
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Kihikihi	Hampstead
Length of Residence	3 days	18 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	13/489
Consent	Lucy Solway, mother of minor
Date of Certificate	15 September 1913
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

759

16 September 1913

Herbert John Burns
Amy Grace Dickson

Herbert John Burd
Amy Grace Dixon
💍 1913/8665

Widower
Spinster

Engine driver
Domestic duties

33
35

Wellington
Ashburton

3 days
35 years

Baring Square Church, Ashburton

13/8520

16 September 1913

Rev. H. J. Elliott

No	759
Date of Notice	16 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert John Burns	Amy Grace Dickson
BDM Match (86%)	Herbert John Burd	Amy Grace Dixon
	💍 1913/8665
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic duties
Age	33	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	35 years
Marriage Place	Baring Square Church, Ashburton
Folio	13/8520
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Elliott

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).