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 2207

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1914

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

812

28 October 1914

Walter Herbert Minner
Elizabeth Margaret Wason

Walter Herbert Skinner
Elizabeth Margaret Mason
💍 1914/4959

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

26
23

Spreydon
Spreydon

3 days
3 days

Methodist Church, Durham Street, Christchurch

8858

28 October 1914

Rev P. N. Knight, Methodist

No	812
Date of Notice	28 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Herbert Minner	Elizabeth Margaret Wason
BDM Match (93%)	Walter Herbert Skinner	Elizabeth Margaret Mason
	💍 1914/4959
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Spreydon
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Durham Street, Christchurch
Folio	8858
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev P. N. Knight, Methodist

813

29 October 1914

Henry Ulrich
Mary Elizabeth McCahon

Henry Ullrich
Mary Elizabeth McCahon
💍 1914/4715

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic

24
24

St. Albans
St. Albans

8 years
7 years

St. Matthew's Church, St. Albans

8714

29 October 1914

Rev J. L. Mortimer, Anglican

No	813
Date of Notice	29 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Ulrich	Mary Elizabeth McCahon
BDM Match (96%)	Henry Ullrich	Mary Elizabeth McCahon
	💍 1914/4715
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	8 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, St. Albans
Folio	8714
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev J. L. Mortimer, Anglican

814

29 October 1914

Norman McClelland Hayley
Ada Louisa Edwards

Norman McClelland Hayley
Ada Louisa Edwards
💍 1914/4929

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Tailoress

27
27

Linwood
Linwood

15 years
20 years

House of Mr G. Edwards, 162 Bordesley Street, Linwood

8830

29 October 1914

Rev H. A. Job, Congregationalist

No	814
Date of Notice	29 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman McClelland Hayley	Ada Louisa Edwards
	💍 1914/4929
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Tailoress
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	15 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr G. Edwards, 162 Bordesley Street, Linwood
Folio	8830
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev H. A. Job, Congregationalist

815

29 October 1914

Wilfred John Walter
Emma Maria Warren Rogers

Wilfred John Walter
Emma Maria Warren Rogers
💍 1914/4913

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

36
26

Marshland
Christchurch

32 years
17 years

House of Mrs Rogers, 99 East Belt, Christchurch

8837

29 October 1914

Rev D. D. Rodger, Presbyterian

No	815
Date of Notice	29 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred John Walter	Emma Maria Warren Rogers
	💍 1914/4913
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	36	26
Dwelling Place	Marshland	Christchurch
Length of Residence	32 years	17 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Rogers, 99 East Belt, Christchurch
Folio	8837
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev D. D. Rodger, Presbyterian

816

30 October 1914

James Everest
Mary Ellen Herbert

James Everett
Mary Ellen Herbert
💍 1914/9475

Widower August 1913
Spinster

Labourer

38
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

25 years
1 year

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

7102

30 October 1914

Registrar

No	816
Date of Notice	30 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Everest	Mary Ellen Herbert
BDM Match (96%)	James Everett	Mary Ellen Herbert
	💍 1914/9475
Condition	Widower August 1913	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	38	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	25 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	7102
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1914
Officiating Minister	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).