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 2261

District of Ellesmere Quarter ending 31 December 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

29/14

10 October 1914

John Henry Skinner
Barbara Newlove

John Henry Skinner
Barbara Newlove
💍 1914/4126

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

28
26

Dunsandel
Dunsandel

15 years
26 years

Methodist Church Dunsandel

7910

10 October 1914

Rev. John Gregg, Leeston

No	29/14
Date of Notice	10 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Skinner	Barbara Newlove
	💍 1914/4126
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Dunsandel	Dunsandel
Length of Residence	15 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Dunsandel
Folio	7910
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Gregg, Leeston

30/14

13 October 1914

Thomas Low Bennett
Lucy Hannah Jones

Thomas Low Bennett
Lucy Hannah Jones
💍 1914/4125

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Duties

23
20

Westport
Leeston

23 years
20 years

Residence of Mr Jones Leeston

7909

George Henry Jones, father

13 October 1914

Rev. John Gregg, Leeston

No	30/14
Date of Notice	13 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Low Bennett	Lucy Hannah Jones
	💍 1914/4125
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Westport	Leeston
Length of Residence	23 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Jones Leeston
Folio	7909
Consent	George Henry Jones, father
Date of Certificate	13 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Gregg, Leeston

31/14

19 October 1914

Alfred Ernest Cooper
Hannah Myrtle Reese

Alfred Ernest Cooper
Hannah Myrtle Reese
💍 1914/4123

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal Merchant
None

25
21

Christchurch
Southbridge

1 year
3 years

Residence of Mr Joseph Reese Southbridge

7908

19 October 1914

Rev. John Gregg, Leeston

No	31/14
Date of Notice	19 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Ernest Cooper	Hannah Myrtle Reese
	💍 1914/4123
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal Merchant	None
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Southbridge
Length of Residence	1 year	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Joseph Reese Southbridge
Folio	7908
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Gregg, Leeston

32/14

19 November 1914

William Thomson
Margaret Kenneally

William Thomson
Margaret Kenneally
💍 1914/4121

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic Duties

25
24

Dunsandel
Dunsandel

8 months
2 years

Registrar's Office Leeston

7906

19 November 1914

W. A. Mansell, Registrar

No	32/14
Date of Notice	19 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomson	Margaret Kenneally
	💍 1914/4121
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic Duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Dunsandel	Dunsandel
Length of Residence	8 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Leeston
Folio	7906
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1914
Officiating Minister	W. A. Mansell, Registrar

33/14

23 November 1914

Arthur Baylis
Alice Jane Simpson

Arthur Baylis
Alice Jane Simpson
💍 1914/5097

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic Duties

28
25

Leeston
Southbridge

27 years
25 years

Residence of Mr G. F. Simpson Southbridge

8996

23 November 1914

Rev. Geo. Lindsay, Southbridge

No	33/14
Date of Notice	23 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Baylis	Alice Jane Simpson
	💍 1914/5097
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic Duties
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Leeston	Southbridge
Length of Residence	27 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr G. F. Simpson Southbridge
Folio	8996
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Lindsay, Southbridge

34/14

5 December 1914

David Isaacs Reid
Ethel May Houston

David Haras Reid
Ethel May Houston
💍 1914/4122

Widower 12th April 1912
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

32
24

Leeston
Leeston

3 years
24 years

Presbyterian Church Leeston

7907

5 December 1914

Rev. R. H. Blair, Leeston

No	34/14
Date of Notice	5 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Isaacs Reid	Ethel May Houston
BDM Match (88%)	David Haras Reid	Ethel May Houston
	💍 1914/4122
Condition	Widower 12th April 1912	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Leeston	Leeston
Length of Residence	3 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Leeston
Folio	7907
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Blair, 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).