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 014

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 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

709

20 April 1913

Edward Sylvester Olbornor
Frances Louisa Allwood

Edward Sylvester O'Connor
Frances Louisa Allwood
💍 1913/2945

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
domestic duties

51
18

Ashburton
Ashburton

21 years
18 years

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

13/2490

Louisa Allwood (Widow) mother of minor

20 April 1913

W. N. White, Registrar

No	709
Date of Notice	20 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Sylvester Olbornor	Frances Louisa Allwood
BDM Match (94%)	Edward Sylvester O'Connor	Frances Louisa Allwood
	💍 1913/2945
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	domestic duties
Age	51	18
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	21 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	13/2490
Consent	Louisa Allwood (Widow) mother of minor
Date of Certificate	20 April 1913
Officiating Minister	W. N. White, Registrar

710

21 April 1913

Henry George Robinson
Syble Louise Miles Segers

Henry George Robinson
Sybil Louise Miles Segers
💍 1913/2946

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

39
31

Milton
Ashburton

3 days
31 years

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

13/2491

21 April 1913

N. W. White, Registrar

No	710
Date of Notice	21 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry George Robinson	Syble Louise Miles Segers
BDM Match (96%)	Henry George Robinson	Sybil Louise Miles Segers
	💍 1913/2946
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	39	31
Dwelling Place	Milton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	31 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	13/2491
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1913
Officiating Minister	N. W. White, Registrar

711

21 April 1913

Frederick Stanley Barrett
Ina Alison Little

Frederick Stanley Barrett
Ina Alison Little
💍 1913/4527

Bachelor
Spinster

Watchmaker
domestic duties

23
23

Methven
Ashburton

3 days
4 years

at the dwelling of F. Little, 7 Peter Street, Ashburton

13/4155

21 April 1913

Rev. W. J. Elliott

No	711
Date of Notice	21 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Stanley Barrett	Ina Alison Little
	💍 1913/4527
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker	domestic duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Methven	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of F. Little, 7 Peter Street, Ashburton
Folio	13/4155
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Elliott

712

21 April 1913

George Swain
Florence Annie Silcock

George Swain
Florence Annie Silcock
💍 1913/4115

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

38
28

Winton
Allenton

6 years
28 years

at the dwelling of W. J. Silcock, Allenton

13/3715

21 April 1913

Rev. W. H. Salter

No	712
Date of Notice	21 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Swain	Florence Annie Silcock
	💍 1913/4115
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	38	28
Dwelling Place	Winton	Allenton
Length of Residence	6 years	28 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of W. J. Silcock, Allenton
Folio	13/3715
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Salter

713

24 April 1913

William Joseph Dalley
Mary Elizabeth Dalley

William Joseph Dalley
Mary Elizabeth Clelland
💍 1913/4112

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Tailoress

31
31

Hampstead
Ashburton

21 years
5 years

at the dwelling of Joseph Dalley, Hampstead

13/3712

24 April 1913

Rev. G. Woollfall

No	713
Date of Notice	24 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph Dalley	Mary Elizabeth Dalley
BDM Match (87%)	William Joseph Dalley	Mary Elizabeth Clelland
	💍 1913/4112
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Tailoress
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Hampstead	Ashburton
Length of Residence	21 years	5 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of Joseph Dalley, Hampstead
Folio	13/3712
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Woollfall

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).