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 2257

District of Ellesmere Quarter ending 30 June 1914 Registrar W. A. 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

8/14

3 April 1914

William Swanson
Agnes Brown

William Swanson
Agnes Brown
💍 1914/9061

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

33
31

Selwyn
Dunsandel

33 years
31 years

Church, Dunsandel

4107

3 April 1914

Rev. J. S. Reid, Dunsandel

No	8/14
Date of Notice	3 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Swanson	Agnes Brown
	💍 1914/9061
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Selwyn	Dunsandel
Length of Residence	33 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Church, Dunsandel
Folio	4107
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Reid, Dunsandel

9/14

4 April 1914

William Paisley Earsman
Alison Dick Lochhead Aitken

William Paisley Earsman
Alison Dick Lochhead Aitken
💍 1914/5797

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
School Teacher

30
30

Melbourne
Doyleston

3 days
30 years

Presbyterian Church, Leeston

3258

4 April 1914

Rev. R. H. Blair, Leeston

No	9/14
Date of Notice	4 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Paisley Earsman	Alison Dick Lochhead Aitken
	💍 1914/5797
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	School Teacher
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Melbourne	Doyleston
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Leeston
Folio	3258
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Blair, Leeston

10/14

6 April 1914

Joseph Chapman
Agnes Welsh

Joseph Chapman
Agnes Welsh
💍 1914/5796

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

22
18

Killinchy
Killinchy

7 days
18 years

Methodist Church, Leeston

3257

E. Welsh, father

6 April 1914

Rev. T. A. Joughin, Leeston

No	10/14
Date of Notice	6 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Chapman	Agnes Welsh
	💍 1914/5796
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Killinchy	Killinchy
Length of Residence	7 days	18 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Leeston
Folio	3257
Consent	E. Welsh, father
Date of Certificate	6 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. A. Joughin, Leeston

11/14

11 April 1914

William Henry Mullan
Anne Elizabeth Allen

William Henry Millar
Annie Elizabeth Allen
💍 1914/9374

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
25

Barr Hill
Killinchy

2 years
25 years

Church of England, Killinchy

4393

11 April 1914

Rev. H. G. Hawkins, Southbridge

No	11/14
Date of Notice	11 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Mullan	Anne Elizabeth Allen
BDM Match (93%)	William Henry Millar	Annie Elizabeth Allen
	💍 1914/9374
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Barr Hill	Killinchy
Length of Residence	2 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Killinchy
Folio	4393
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Hawkins, Southbridge

12/14

14 April 1914

Gordon Ambrose Ridden
Charlotte May Carter

Gordon Ambrose Ridden
Charlotte May Carter
💍 1914/5798

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

25
23

Lincoln
Leeston

20 years
23 years

Residence of Mr John Carter, Leeston

3259

14 April 1914

Rev. R. H. Blair, Leeston

No	12/14
Date of Notice	14 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Ambrose Ridden	Charlotte May Carter
	💍 1914/5798
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Lincoln	Leeston
Length of Residence	20 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr John Carter, Leeston
Folio	3259
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Blair, Leeston

13/14

20 April 1914

Richard Joseph O'Brien
Hannah Frances Harney

Richard Joseph O'Brien
Hannah Frances Harney
💍 1914/932

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Domestic Duties

43
32

Fairlie
Southbridge

12 years
32 years

Roman Catholic Church, Southbridge

4598

20 April 1914

Rev. Father J. Bowden, Leeston

No	13/14
Date of Notice	20 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Joseph O'Brien	Hannah Frances Harney
	💍 1914/932
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	43	32
Dwelling Place	Fairlie	Southbridge
Length of Residence	12 years	32 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Southbridge
Folio	4598
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father J. Bowden, Leeston

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).