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 2889

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1914 Registrar O. H. R.

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

17 June 1914

Angus Macdonald
Violet Mary Ann McQuarrie

Angus Macdonald
Violet Mary Ann McQuarrie
💍 1914/6186

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
Telephone Cadet

26
24

In employ of Union S.S. Coy
Nith Street, Invercargill

3 days

Methodist Church, Elles Road, Invercargill

3771

17 June 1914

Rev. G. P. Hunt

No	94
Date of Notice	17 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Angus Macdonald	Violet Mary Ann McQuarrie
	💍 1914/6186
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	Telephone Cadet
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	In employ of Union S.S. Coy	Nith Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence		3 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Elles Road, Invercargill
Folio	3771
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Hunt

17 June 1914

John Henry Gardner
Mary Hardy

John Henry Gardner
Mary Hardy
💍 1914/6187

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

27
19

Crinan Street, Invercargill
Crinan Street, Invercargill

3 years
2 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

3772

David Hardy, father

17 June 1914

Registrar of Marriages

No	95
Date of Notice	17 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Gardner	Mary Hardy
	💍 1914/6187
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Crinan Street, Invercargill	Crinan Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	3772
Consent	David Hardy, father
Date of Certificate	17 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

17 June 1914

William Brennan
Jessie Adam

William Drinnan
Jessie Adam
💍 1914/9080

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

49
49

Dalrymple Road, Invercargill
Christchurch

1 week
7 years

Residence of William Binns, Dalrymple Road, Invercargill

4126

17 June 1914

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	96
Date of Notice	17 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Brennan	Jessie Adam
BDM Match (93%)	William Drinnan	Jessie Adam
	💍 1914/9080
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	49	49
Dwelling Place	Dalrymple Road, Invercargill	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 week	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Binns, Dalrymple Road, Invercargill
Folio	4126
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

18 June 1914

Cyrus James Critchfield
Mary Thora

Cyrus James Critchfield
Mary Thorn
💍 1914/9081

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Tailoress

25
25

Yarrow Street, Invercargill
Nith Street, Invercargill

7 years
25 years

Residence of Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Tay Street, Invercargill

4127

18 June 1914

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	97
Date of Notice	18 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyrus James Critchfield	Mary Thora
BDM Match (95%)	Cyrus James Critchfield	Mary Thorn
	💍 1914/9081
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Tailoress
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Yarrow Street, Invercargill	Nith Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	4127
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

19 June 1914

Francis Golightly
Grace McQueen Robertson

Francis Golightly
Grace McQueen Robertson
💍 1914/6188

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic

22
18

Leven Street, Invercargill
Leven Street, Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

3773

John Robertson, father

19 June 1914

Registrar of Marriages

No	98
Date of Notice	19 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Golightly	Grace McQueen Robertson
	💍 1914/6188
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Leven Street, Invercargill	Leven Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	3773
Consent	John Robertson, father
Date of Certificate	19 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

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).