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 2047

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 1914 Registrar W. W. 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

6 August 1914

William George Kohlies
Edith Ivy Burnaby

William George Kohlies
Edith Ivy Burnaby
💍 1914/2326

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic duties

19
19

Westerfield
Hampstead

8 years
16 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

6050

Lily Gillies mother of groom. Walter Burnaby father of Bride.

6 August 1914

W. W. White Registrar

No	46
Date of Notice	6 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Kohlies	Edith Ivy Burnaby
	💍 1914/2326
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Westerfield	Hampstead
Length of Residence	8 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	6050
Consent	Lily Gillies mother of groom. Walter Burnaby father of Bride.
Date of Certificate	6 August 1914
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

9 August 1914

James William Higgs
Edith Lizzie Emmavale Blanche Wallace

James William Higgs
Edith Lizzie Emmavale Blanche Wallace
💍 1914/2353

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

42
31

Maronan
Maronan

12 months
6 weeks

at the dwelling of W. Higgs Maronan

6054

9 August 1914

Rev. Peter Wilson

No	47
Date of Notice	9 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Higgs	Edith Lizzie Emmavale Blanche Wallace
	💍 1914/2353
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	42	31
Dwelling Place	Maronan	Maronan
Length of Residence	12 months	6 weeks
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of W. Higgs Maronan
Folio	6054
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Peter Wilson

13 August 1914

Mitchell Charles Knox
Nellie Winifred Harman

Mitchell Charles Knox
Nellie Winifred Harman
💍 1914/5258

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
domestic duties

29
22

Allenton
Ashburton

29 years
8 years

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

9160

13 August 1914

Rev. J. R. Burgin

No	48
Date of Notice	13 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mitchell Charles Knox	Nellie Winifred Harman
	💍 1914/5258
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	domestic duties
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	29 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	9160
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Burgin

15 August 1914

Thomas Henry Amon Sadler
Mary Jane Foster

Thomas Henry Amon Sadlar
Mary Jane Foster
💍 1914/2354

Bachelor
Spinster

Teamster
domestic duties

55
21

Fairlie
Fairlie

3 days
3 days

the Hall Ruapuna

6055

15 August 1914

Rev. P. Wilson

No	49
Date of Notice	15 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Amon Sadler	Mary Jane Foster
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Henry Amon Sadlar	Mary Jane Foster
	💍 1914/2354
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teamster	domestic duties
Age	55	21
Dwelling Place	Fairlie	Fairlie
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	the Hall Ruapuna
Folio	6055
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Wilson

24 August 1914

James Marcus Thomson
Mary Vaughan Butcher

James Marcus Thomson
Mary Vaughan Butcher
💍 1914/2321

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

24
25

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
3 days

the Manse Ashburton

6045

24 August 1914

Rev. Geo Miller

No	50
Date of Notice	24 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Marcus Thomson	Mary Vaughan Butcher
	💍 1914/2321
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	the Manse Ashburton
Folio	6045
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo Miller

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).