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 2255

District of Ellesmere Quarter ending 31 March 1914 Registrar Walter Abbott Mansell

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

1/14

7 January 1914

John Graham Dick
Alice Elizabeth Hands

John Graham Dick
Alice Elizabeth Hands
💍 1914/7503

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Help

24
17

Killinchy
Killinchy

10 years
2 years

Residence of Mr William Hands, Killinchy

1368

William Hands, father

7 January 1914

Rev R. H. Blair, Leeston

No	1/14
Date of Notice	7 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Graham Dick	Alice Elizabeth Hands
	💍 1914/7503
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Help
Age	24	17
Dwelling Place	Killinchy	Killinchy
Length of Residence	10 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr William Hands, Killinchy
Folio	1368
Consent	William Hands, father
Date of Certificate	7 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev R. H. Blair, Leeston

2/14

20 January 1914

William Thomas Furner
Annie Montgomery

William Thomas Turner
Annie Montgomery
💍 1914/9372

Bachelor
Spinster

Stockman
Domestic Duties

23
22

Christchurch
Southbridge

4 days
22 years

Church of England, Southbridge

4390

20 January 1914

Rev H. G. Hawkins, Southbridge

No	2/14
Date of Notice	20 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Furner	Annie Montgomery
BDM Match (98%)	William Thomas Turner	Annie Montgomery
	💍 1914/9372
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stockman	Domestic Duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Southbridge
Length of Residence	4 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Southbridge
Folio	4390
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Hawkins, Southbridge

3/14

27 January 1914

Arnold Kent Overton
Edith Hartnell

Arnold Kirk Overton
Edith Hartnell
💍 1914/7559

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home Duties

32
30

Taihape
Leeston

3 days
20 years

"Ravensworth," residence of the Bride, Leeston

1645

27 January 1914

Rev R. H. Blair, Leeston

No	3/14
Date of Notice	27 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arnold Kent Overton	Edith Hartnell
BDM Match (92%)	Arnold Kirk Overton	Edith Hartnell
	💍 1914/7559
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home Duties
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Leeston
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	"Ravensworth," residence of the Bride, Leeston
Folio	1645
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev R. H. Blair, Leeston

4/14

17 March 1914

William John Dean
Emily May Stephens

William John Dean
Emily May Stephens
💍 1914/7504

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

22
23

Greendale
Dunsandel

4 years
23 years

Methodist Church, Dunsandel

1369

17 March 1914

Rev T. A. Joughin, Leeston

No	4/14
Date of Notice	17 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Dean	Emily May Stephens
	💍 1914/7504
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Greendale	Dunsandel
Length of Residence	4 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Dunsandel
Folio	1369
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev T. A. Joughin, Leeston

5/14

18 March 1914

Isaiah Taoka Waitiri
Elizabeth Johnson

Isaiah Taoka Waitiri
Elizabeth Johnson
💍 1914/6711

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

21
23

Bluff
Lakeside

20 years
23 years

Registrar's Office, Leeston

389

18 March 1914

W. A. Mansell, Registrar

No	5/14
Date of Notice	18 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaiah Taoka Waitiri	Elizabeth Johnson
	💍 1914/6711
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Bluff	Lakeside
Length of Residence	20 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Leeston
Folio	389
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1914
Officiating Minister	W. A. Mansell, 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).