Intentions to Marry, 1914 Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840456, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1914 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki (1914a), Wellington, Hawke's Bay, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1914b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1914c).

Page 2029

District of Akaroa Quarter ending 30 June 1914 Registrar Henry George Youngman

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

3 April 1914

Hugh Alexander Macphail
Agnes Louisa Crotty

Hugh Alexander McPhail
Agnes Louisa Crotty
💍 1914/6426

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

28
23

Le Bons Bay
Le Bons Bay

28 years
23 years

at the residence of Mr J. Frederickson Lavaud St Akaroa

3962

3 April 1914

Revd J W Hayward

No	3
Date of Notice	3 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Alexander Macphail	Agnes Louisa Crotty
BDM Match (96%)	Hugh Alexander McPhail	Agnes Louisa Crotty
	💍 1914/6426
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Le Bons Bay	Le Bons Bay
Length of Residence	28 years	23 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of Mr J. Frederickson Lavaud St Akaroa
Folio	3962
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Revd J W Hayward

2 May 1914

Karl Henry Perrin
Jessie Ellen Hammond

Karl Henry Perrin
Jessie Ellen Hammond
💍 1914/6425

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Dressmaker

25
23

Akaroa
Akaroa

8 months
23 years

Presbyterian Church Akaroa

3961

2 May 1914

Rev J W Hayward

No	4
Date of Notice	2 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Karl Henry Perrin	Jessie Ellen Hammond
	💍 1914/6425
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Dressmaker
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Akaroa	Akaroa
Length of Residence	8 months	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Akaroa
Folio	3961
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev J W Hayward

15 May 1914

Henry Robert Newton
Edith Constance Julius

Henry Robert Newton
Edith Constance Julius
💍 1914/6000

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
domestic duties

25
24

Akaroa
Akaroa

25 years
10 years

St Peters Church Akaroa

3235

15 May 1914

Rev A H Julius

No	5
Date of Notice	15 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Robert Newton	Edith Constance Julius
	💍 1914/6000
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	domestic duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Akaroa	Akaroa
Length of Residence	25 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church Akaroa
Folio	3235
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev A H Julius

4 June 1914

Robert Alexander Home Stewart
Alice Vile Rhodes

Robert Alexander Horice Stewart
Alice Viles Rhodes
💍 1914/6001

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
domestic duties

21
27

French Farm
Wainui

21 years
27 years

Wainui Church

3236

4 June 1914

Rev A H Julius

No	6
Date of Notice	4 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Alexander Home Stewart	Alice Vile Rhodes
BDM Match (92%)	Robert Alexander Horice Stewart	Alice Viles Rhodes
	💍 1914/6001
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	domestic duties
Age	21	27
Dwelling Place	French Farm	Wainui
Length of Residence	21 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Wainui Church
Folio	3236
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev A H Julius

13 June 1914

Ambrose William Harris
Edith Emma Chadbolt

Ambrose William Harris
Edith Emma Shadbolt
💍 1914/6002

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

32
21

Okains Bay
French Farm

32 years
20 years

St Johns Church of England Duvauchelles Bay

3237

13 June 1914

Rev A. H Julius

No	7
Date of Notice	13 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ambrose William Harris	Edith Emma Chadbolt
BDM Match (97%)	Ambrose William Harris	Edith Emma Shadbolt
	💍 1914/6002
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Okains Bay	French Farm
Length of Residence	32 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church of England Duvauchelles Bay
Folio	3237
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev A. H Julius

26 June 1914

Henry Ernest Tibby
Elizabeth Dora Wright

Henry Ernest Tibby
Elizabeth Dora Wright
💍 1914/6003

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach Painter
domestic duties

27
22

Wainui
Wainui

2 years
22 years

Church Building Wainui

3238

26 June 1914

Rev A H Julius

No	8
Date of Notice	26 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Ernest Tibby	Elizabeth Dora Wright
	💍 1914/6003
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach Painter	domestic duties
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Wainui	Wainui
Length of Residence	2 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Church Building Wainui
Folio	3238
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev A H Julius

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).