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 2923

District of Lumsden Quarter ending 30 September 1914 Registrar Frank Unsworth

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

3 July 1914

Alexander Robert Dawson
Bridget Annie McCauley

Alexander Robert Dawson
Bridget Annie McCauley
💍 1914/2865

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

22
22

Mossburn
Mossburn

10 years
22 years

Anglican Church, Lumsden

6617

3 July 1914

Rev H. A. W. Blathwayt

No	10
Date of Notice	3 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Robert Dawson	Bridget Annie McCauley
	💍 1914/2865
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Mossburn	Mossburn
Length of Residence	10 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Lumsden
Folio	6617
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev H. A. W. Blathwayt

10 July 1914

James Bowie
Barbara Alice Orr

James Cowie
Barbara Alice Orr
💍 1914/2869

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
24

Balfour
Balfour

25 years
10 years

Presbyterian Church, Balfour

6620

10 July 1914

Rev E. A. Culliford

No	11
Date of Notice	10 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Bowie	Barbara Alice Orr
BDM Match (95%)	James Cowie	Barbara Alice Orr
	💍 1914/2869
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Balfour	Balfour
Length of Residence	25 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Balfour
Folio	6620
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev E. A. Culliford

29 July 1914

Frank Henry Pannett
Violet Ann Soper

Frank Henry Cannett
Violet Ann Soper
💍 1914/2727

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24 years
18 years

Five Rivers
Athol

3 years
18 years

Presbyterian Church, Athol

6505

Samuel Soper (Father)

29 July 1914

Rev W. G. Hannah

No	12
Date of Notice	29 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Henry Pannett	Violet Ann Soper
BDM Match (97%)	Frank Henry Cannett	Violet Ann Soper
	💍 1914/2727
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Five Rivers	Athol
Length of Residence	3 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Athol
Folio	6505
Consent	Samuel Soper (Father)
Date of Certificate	29 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev W. G. Hannah

1 August 1914

John Dalrymple
Barbara Todd

John Dalrymple
Barbara Todd
💍 1914/2867

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic

35 years
36 years

Lumsden
Lumsden

10 days
10 days

W. Cummings residence, Lumsden

6619

1 August 1914

Rev W. G. Hannah

No	13
Date of Notice	1 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Dalrymple	Barbara Todd
	💍 1914/2867
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic
Age	35 years	36 years
Dwelling Place	Lumsden	Lumsden
Length of Residence	10 days	10 days
Marriage Place	W. Cummings residence, Lumsden
Folio	6619
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev W. G. Hannah

26 August 1914

Rupert Leslie Gilmour
Mary Elizabeth Catherine Fraser

Rupert Leslie Gilmour
Mary Elizabeth Catherine Fraser
💍 1914/2802

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheese factory manager
School teacher

25 years
23 years

Lumsden
Lumsden

3 days
23 years

Presbyterian Church, Lumsden

6555

26 August 1914

Rev Robert Mackie

No	14
Date of Notice	26 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rupert Leslie Gilmour	Mary Elizabeth Catherine Fraser
	💍 1914/2802
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheese factory manager	School teacher
Age	25 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Lumsden	Lumsden
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Lumsden
Folio	6555
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev Robert Mackie

23 September 1914

James Allen Browning
Mary McGregor Agnew

James Allen Browning
Mary McGregor Agnew
💍 1914/2866

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

26 years
23 years

Mossburn
Mossburn

26 years
23 years

Anglican Church, Lumsden

6618

23 September 1914

Rev H. A. W. Blathwayt

No	15
Date of Notice	23 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Allen Browning	Mary McGregor Agnew
	💍 1914/2866
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Mossburn	Mossburn
Length of Residence	26 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Lumsden
Folio	6618
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev H. A. W. Blathwayt

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).