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 2061

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1914 Registrar Frank Evans

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

15 January 1914

Carl Anton Weiss
Louisa Mary Wormald

Carl Anton Woess
Louisa Mary Wormald
💍 1914/7576

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
24

Yaldhurst
Yaldhurst

2 years
10 years

St Mary's Roman Catholic Presbytery Christchurch

1490

15 January 1914

Rev. R. J. Hoare

No	37
Date of Notice	15 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Carl Anton Weiss	Louisa Mary Wormald
BDM Match (94%)	Carl Anton Woess	Louisa Mary Wormald
	💍 1914/7576
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Yaldhurst	Yaldhurst
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Roman Catholic Presbytery Christchurch
Folio	1490
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hoare

16 January 1914

Eleazar Griffiths
Lilly May Robinson

Eleazar Griffiths
Lilly May Robinson
💍 1914/7594

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

24
26

Greymouth
Opawa

8 years

Methodist Church Opawa

1486

16 January 1914

Rev. W. Laycock

No	38
Date of Notice	16 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eleazar Griffiths	Lilly May Robinson
	💍 1914/7594
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Opawa
Length of Residence		8 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Opawa
Folio	1486
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Laycock

16 January 1914

Charles Henry Adolphus Truscott Opie
Dorcas Mary Glanville

Charles Henry Adolphus Truscott Opie
Dorcas Mary Glanville
💍 1914/7580

Widower June 9, 1907
Spinster

Agent

60
32

New Brighton
St. Albans

6 years
1 week

Methodist Church Durham St. Christchurch

1494

16 January 1914

Rev. C. H. Laws

No	39
Date of Notice	16 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Adolphus Truscott Opie	Dorcas Mary Glanville
	💍 1914/7580
Condition	Widower June 9, 1907	Spinster
Profession	Agent
Age	60	32
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	St. Albans
Length of Residence	6 years	1 week
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Durham St. Christchurch
Folio	1494
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Laws

17 January 1914

Diedrich Mehrtens
Elsie Florence May Gillman

Diedrich Mehrtens
Elsie Florence May Gillman
💍 1914/414

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

28
25

Papanui
St. Albans

17 years
10 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

17 January 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	40
Date of Notice	17 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Diedrich Mehrtens	Elsie Florence May Gillman
	💍 1914/414
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Papanui	St. Albans
Length of Residence	17 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	81
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

17 January 1914

Patrick Kane
Mary Kathleen McKee

Patrick Kane
Mary Kathleen McKee
💍 1914/7577

Bachelor
Spinster

Billiard Saloon Proprietor

23
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
4 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

1491

17 January 1914

Rev. J. W. Price

No	41
Date of Notice	17 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Kane	Mary Kathleen McKee
	💍 1914/7577
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Billiard Saloon Proprietor
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	1491
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Price

19 January 1914

Martin Harry
Louisa Douglas

Martin Harry
Louisa Douglas
💍 1914/415

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
20

Sydenham
Christchurch

24 years
20 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

Thomas Douglas, Father

19 January 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	42
Date of Notice	19 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Harry	Louisa Douglas
	💍 1914/415
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Christchurch
Length of Residence	24 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	82
Consent	Thomas Douglas, Father
Date of Certificate	19 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

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).