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 2901

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

147

3 September 1914

Thomas Phillip Robinson
Ada Eliza Mills

Thomas Phillip Robinson
Ada Eliza Mills
💍 1914/2971

Widower
Spinster

Insurance
Domestic

48
40

Winton
Teviot Street, Invercargill

5 years
5 days

Residence of Reg. P. Hunt, Elles Road, Invercargill

6598

3 September 1914

Rev. G. P. Hunt

No	147
Date of Notice	3 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Phillip Robinson	Ada Eliza Mills
	💍 1914/2971
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Insurance	Domestic
Age	48	40
Dwelling Place	Winton	Teviot Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 years	5 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Reg. P. Hunt, Elles Road, Invercargill
Folio	6598
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Hunt

148

4 September 1914

Robert Archibald Elliot
Wilhelmina Sherriff Bain

Robert Archibald Elliot
Wilhelmina Sherriff Bain
💍 1914/2797

Widower
Spinster

Merchant
Teacher

75
65

Fortrose
Invercargill

30 years
3 days

Residence of Rev. J. K. Archer, Symonds Street, Invercargill

6573

4 September 1914

Rev. J. K. Archer

No	148
Date of Notice	4 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Archibald Elliot	Wilhelmina Sherriff Bain
	💍 1914/2797
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Merchant	Teacher
Age	75	65
Dwelling Place	Fortrose	Invercargill
Length of Residence	30 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. K. Archer, Symonds Street, Invercargill
Folio	6573
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Archer

149

5 September 1914

Robert Harris
Ruby Frances Nicolson

Robert Harris
Ruby Frances Nicolson
💍 1914/5304

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

26
18

Kapuka, Invercargill
Bryson Road, Invercargill

9 years
18 years

Residence of Rev. J. Henderson, Don Street, Invercargill

9206

Under Section 27

7 September 1914

Rev. J. Henderson

No	149
Date of Notice	5 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Harris	Ruby Frances Nicolson
	💍 1914/5304
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Kapuka, Invercargill	Bryson Road, Invercargill
Length of Residence	9 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. Henderson, Don Street, Invercargill
Folio	9206
Consent	Under Section 27
Date of Certificate	7 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Henderson

150

7 September 1914

James Arthur Strong
Emily Jane Strong

James Arthur Steans
Emily Jane Stroud
💍 1914/5410

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic

27
27

Waianiwa, Invercargill
Nelson Street, Invercargill

27 years
18 months

Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

9140

7 September 1914

Rev. J. W. Burridge

No	150
Date of Notice	7 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Arthur Strong	Emily Jane Strong
BDM Match (86%)	James Arthur Steans	Emily Jane Stroud
	💍 1914/5410
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Waianiwa, Invercargill	Nelson Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	27 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	9140
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Burridge

150

8 September 1914

James Stewart
Hannah Manning

James Stewart
Hannah Hanning
💍 1914/2962

Bachelor
Widow

Carter
Domestic

27
39

Nith Street, Invercargill
Ettrick Street, Invercargill

8 years
2 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

6590

8 September 1914

Registrar

No	150
Date of Notice	8 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Stewart	Hannah Manning
BDM Match (96%)	James Stewart	Hannah Hanning
	💍 1914/2962
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Carter	Domestic
Age	27	39
Dwelling Place	Nith Street, Invercargill	Ettrick Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	8 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	6590
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 September 1914
Officiating Minister	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).