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 2541

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 June 1914 Registrar Henry Maxwell

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

208

8 April 1914

Ernest Arthur Standring
Florence Isabella Grieve

Ernest Arthur Mandring
Florence Isabella Grieve
💍 1914/8963

Bachelor
Spinster

insurance agent

25
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 days
25 years

In the house of Mr J. Scott, 5 Rosebery Street, Mornington

4009

8 April 1914

J. Standring

No	208
Date of Notice	8 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Arthur Standring	Florence Isabella Grieve
BDM Match (96%)	Ernest Arthur Mandring	Florence Isabella Grieve
	💍 1914/8963
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	insurance agent
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	25 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr J. Scott, 5 Rosebery Street, Mornington
Folio	4009
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1914
Officiating Minister	J. Standring

209

8 April 1914

Lachlan Macdonald
Minnie Sydney Fielding

Lachlan Macdonell
Minnie Sydney Fielding
💍 1914/6277

Widower
Widow

farmer

70
33

Dunedin
Dunedin

40 years
12 months

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

3838

8 April 1914

H. Maxwell

No	209
Date of Notice	8 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lachlan Macdonald	Minnie Sydney Fielding
BDM Match (94%)	Lachlan Macdonell	Minnie Sydney Fielding
	💍 1914/6277
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	farmer
Age	70	33
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	40 years	12 months
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	3838
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1914
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

210

8 April 1914

George William Ogg Turner
Kathleen Isabell Douglas

George William Ogg Turner
Kathleen Isabell Douglas
💍 1914/6281

Bachelor
Spinster

grocer

23
18

St Kilda
Dunedin

15 years
12 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

3842

Alexander Reid Douglas, father

8 April 1914

H. Maxwell

No	210
Date of Notice	8 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Ogg Turner	Kathleen Isabell Douglas
	💍 1914/6281
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	grocer
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	St Kilda	Dunedin
Length of Residence	15 years	12 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	3842
Consent	Alexander Reid Douglas, father
Date of Certificate	8 April 1914
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

211

8 April 1914

Neil Macdonald
Elizabeth Smith

Neil Macdonald
Elizabeth Smith
💍 1914/6278

Neil Ross
Elizabeth Smith
💍 1914/2821

Bachelor
Spinster

shipwright

29
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

15 months
2 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

3839

8 April 1914

H. Maxwell

No	211
Date of Notice	8 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neil Macdonald	Elizabeth Smith
	💍 1914/6278
BDM Match (71%)	Neil Ross	Elizabeth Smith
	💍 1914/2821
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	shipwright
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	15 months	2 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	3839
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1914
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

212

9 April 1914

Stephen Veitch
Reta Lilian Kemnitz

Stephen Veitch
Reta Lilian Kennitz
💍 1914/6279

Bachelor
Spinster

ironmonger

20
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

20 years
21 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

3840

Robert Davidson Veitch, father

9 April 1914

H. Maxwell

No	212
Date of Notice	9 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Veitch	Reta Lilian Kemnitz
BDM Match (97%)	Stephen Veitch	Reta Lilian Kennitz
	💍 1914/6279
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	ironmonger
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	3840
Consent	Robert Davidson Veitch, father
Date of Certificate	9 April 1914
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

213

9 April 1914

Robert John Ebenezer Falconer
Alice Coppin

Robert John Ebenezer Falconer
Alice Coppin
💍 1914/6280

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer

27
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
6 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

3841

9 April 1914

H. Maxwell

No	213
Date of Notice	9 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert John Ebenezer Falconer	Alice Coppin
	💍 1914/6280
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	3841
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1914
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

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).