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 2893

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1914

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

107

2 July 1914

Ernest Sheppard
Ann McDonald

Ernest Sheppard
Ann McDonald
💍 1914/2799

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

26
23

Nith Street, Invercargill
Nith Street, Invercargill

26 years
3 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

6575

2 July 1914

Registrar

No	107
Date of Notice	2 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Sheppard	Ann McDonald
	💍 1914/2799
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Nith Street, Invercargill	Nith Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	26 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	6575
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar

108

2 July 1914

Frederick Elder Birbeck Trimey
Florence Elizabeth Mackay

Frederick Elder Birbeck Iviney
Flora Elizabeth Mackay
💍 1914/2868

Bachelor
Spinster

Staff Sergeant Major
Book-keeper

34
23

William Street, Invercargill
Eye Street, Invercargill

2 years
4 years

Residence of Robert Scott, 50 Eye Street, Invercargill

6602

2 July 1914

Rev. J. W. Shaw

No	108
Date of Notice	2 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Elder Birbeck Trimey	Florence Elizabeth Mackay
BDM Match (87%)	Frederick Elder Birbeck Iviney	Flora Elizabeth Mackay
	💍 1914/2868
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Staff Sergeant Major	Book-keeper
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	William Street, Invercargill	Eye Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Robert Scott, 50 Eye Street, Invercargill
Folio	6602
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Shaw

109

7 July 1914

Andrew Fletcher
Margaret Stewart Taylor

Andrew Fletcher
Margaret Stewart Taylor
💍 1914/2876

Bachelor
Spinster

Book-keeper
Home duties

30
26

McMaster Street, Invercargill
Arrived by S.S. Moeraki from Melbourne on 6th July 1914

18 months

Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

6604

7 July 1914

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	109
Date of Notice	7 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Fletcher	Margaret Stewart Taylor
	💍 1914/2876
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Book-keeper	Home duties
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	McMaster Street, Invercargill	Arrived by S.S. Moeraki from Melbourne on 6th July 1914
Length of Residence	18 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	6604
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

110

7 July 1914

Michael Francis Woods
Mary Raynor

Michael Francis Woods
Mary Traynor
💍 1914/2858

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Agent
Dressmaker

37
36

Dee Street, Invercargill
Lindisfarne, Invercargill

13 years
15 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill

6610

7 July 1914

Rev. Father M. Woods

No	110
Date of Notice	7 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Francis Woods	Mary Raynor
BDM Match (92%)	Michael Francis Woods	Mary Traynor
	💍 1914/2858
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Agent	Dressmaker
Age	37	36
Dwelling Place	Dee Street, Invercargill	Lindisfarne, Invercargill
Length of Residence	13 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill
Folio	6610
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father M. Woods

111

9 July 1914

James Thomson Watson
Mabel Jane Asher Munro

James Morrison Watson
Mabel Jane Asher Munro
💍 1914/2875

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep-buyer
Domestic

31
21

William Street, Invercargill
Mokotua, Invercargill

24 years
21 years

Residence of James Robertson Munro, Mokotua, Invercargill

6603

9 July 1914

Rev. John McGregor

No	111
Date of Notice	9 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Thomson Watson	Mabel Jane Asher Munro
BDM Match (88%)	James Morrison Watson	Mabel Jane Asher Munro
	💍 1914/2875
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep-buyer	Domestic
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	William Street, Invercargill	Mokotua, Invercargill
Length of Residence	24 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of James Robertson Munro, Mokotua, Invercargill
Folio	6603
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. John McGregor

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).