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 2053

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1914 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

30 November 1914

Francis Charles Mary Davis
Mary Frances Soal

Francis Charles Mary Davis
Mary Frances Soal
💍 1914/5362

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman New Zealand Railways
Domestic duties

24
21

Wanganui
Allenton

3 days
21 years

Roman Catholic Church Ashburton

929

30 November 1914

Dean O'Donnell

No	74
Date of Notice	30 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Charles Mary Davis	Mary Frances Soal
	💍 1914/5362
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman New Zealand Railways	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Allenton
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Ashburton
Folio	929
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Dean O'Donnell

1 December 1914

Thomas Henry Carslake Anson
Ida Agnes Dunlop

Thomas Henry Carclarke Anson
Agnes Ida Dunlop
💍 1914/4137

Bachelor
Spinster

Poultry farmer
Domestic duties

31
31

Courtenay
Ruapuna

3 days
3 months

at the dwelling of Mr. M. Dunlop Ruapuna

7898

1 December 1914

Rev. F. Wilson

No	75
Date of Notice	1 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Carslake Anson	Ida Agnes Dunlop
BDM Match (71%)	Thomas Henry Carclarke Anson	Agnes Ida Dunlop
	💍 1914/4137
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Poultry farmer	Domestic duties
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Courtenay	Ruapuna
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of Mr. M. Dunlop Ruapuna
Folio	7898
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Wilson

5 December 1914

Edward Louis Hansen
Hannah Ainsworth

Edward Louis Hansen
Hannah Ainsworth
💍 1914/4131

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

29
26

Hinds
Ashburton

29 years
20 years

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

7892

5 December 1914

Rev. J. R. Burgin

No	76
Date of Notice	5 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Louis Hansen	Hannah Ainsworth
	💍 1914/4131
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Hinds	Ashburton
Length of Residence	29 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	7892
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Burgin

9 December 1914

Patrick Joseph Sullivan
Ellen Margaret Alexander

Patrick Joseph Sullivan
Ellen Margaret Alexander
💍 1914/4134

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic duties

24
21

Ashburton
Hampstead

3 years
21 years

Presbyterian Manse Trevorton

7895

9 December 1914

Rev. W. C. Blair

No	77
Date of Notice	9 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Joseph Sullivan	Ellen Margaret Alexander
	💍 1914/4134
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Hampstead
Length of Residence	3 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Trevorton
Folio	7895
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Blair

14 December 1914

John Allen Pilley
Sarah Ann Griffiths

John Allen Lilley
Sarah Ann Griffiths
💍 1914/4133

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

39
45

Mayfield
Mayfield

4 years
5 months

Methodist Church Mayfield

7894

14 December 1914

W. W. E. Sleep

No	78
Date of Notice	14 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Allen Pilley	Sarah Ann Griffiths
BDM Match (97%)	John Allen Lilley	Sarah Ann Griffiths
	💍 1914/4133
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	39	45
Dwelling Place	Mayfield	Mayfield
Length of Residence	4 years	5 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Mayfield
Folio	7894
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1914
Officiating Minister	W. W. E. Sleep

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).