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 2263

District of Geraldine Quarter ending 31 March 1914 Registrar A. A. Readdie

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

919

17 January 1914

Charles Edwin Brenton
Mary Payne

Charles Edwin Brenton
Mary Payne
💍 1914/7507

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic

24
17

Geraldine
Orari

6 months
17 years

Methodist Church Geraldine

1372

George Alfred Payne Father

17 January 1914

Rev. Ben Dudley Methodist

No	919
Date of Notice	17 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edwin Brenton	Mary Payne
	💍 1914/7507
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic
Age	24	17
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Orari
Length of Residence	6 months	17 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Geraldine
Folio	1372
Consent	George Alfred Payne Father
Date of Certificate	17 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Ben Dudley Methodist

920

14 February 1914

Charles Frederick Vernall
Hilda Gwendolen Jones

Charles Frederick Vernall
Hilda Gwendoline Jones
💍 1914/7509

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic

37
22

Orari
Kakahu

12 years
22 years

Anglican Church Geraldine

1373

16 February 1914

Rev. S. Hamilton Church of England

No	920
Date of Notice	14 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Frederick Vernall	Hilda Gwendolen Jones
BDM Match (95%)	Charles Frederick Vernall	Hilda Gwendoline Jones
	💍 1914/7509
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic
Age	37	22
Dwelling Place	Orari	Kakahu
Length of Residence	12 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Geraldine
Folio	1373
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Hamilton Church of England

921

17 February 1914

Patrick Mulvihill
Caroline Kent

Patrick Mulvihill
Caroline Kent
💍 1914/8105

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

42
30

Beautiful Valley
Timaru

36 years

R. Catholic Church Timaru

1652

17 February 1914

Rev. Dean Tubman Roman Catholic

No	921
Date of Notice	17 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Mulvihill	Caroline Kent
	💍 1914/8105
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	42	30
Dwelling Place	Beautiful Valley	Timaru
Length of Residence	36 years
Marriage Place	R. Catholic Church Timaru
Folio	1652
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean Tubman Roman Catholic

922

23 March 1914

Andrew Elmslie Archibald
Harriett Ann Emily Griffiths

Andrew Elmslie Archibald
Harriet Ann Emily Griffiths
💍 1914/5923

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
22

Hilton
Hilton

20 years
22 years

Dwelling of M. E. Griffiths Hilton

3385

25 March 1914

Rev. A. B. Todd Presbyterian

No	922
Date of Notice	23 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Elmslie Archibald	Harriett Ann Emily Griffiths
BDM Match (98%)	Andrew Elmslie Archibald	Harriet Ann Emily Griffiths
	💍 1914/5923
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Hilton	Hilton
Length of Residence	20 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of M. E. Griffiths Hilton
Folio	3385
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Todd Presbyterian

923

23 March 1914

James Joseph Johnson
Gaynor Boyd

James Joseph Johnson
Gaynor Boyd
💍 1914/6565

Bachelor
Divorced (11 April 1906)

Butcher
Domestic Servant

33
33

Carew Geraldine
Carew Geraldine

4 months
5 months

Registrar's Office Geraldine

366

23 March 1914

A. A. Readdie Registrar

No	923
Date of Notice	23 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Joseph Johnson	Gaynor Boyd
	💍 1914/6565
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (11 April 1906)
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Servant
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Carew Geraldine	Carew Geraldine
Length of Residence	4 months	5 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Geraldine
Folio	366
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1914
Officiating Minister	A. A. Readdie 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).