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 2963

District of Riverton Quarter ending 30 June 1914 Registrar Arthur Evan Dobbie

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

917

1 April 1914

Henry Jasper Walden
Mabel Sinclair Trotter

Henry Jasper Walden
Anabel Sinclair Trotter
💍 1914/3105

Bachelor
Spinster

Dentist
Domestic Duties

24
24

Riverton
Riverton

6 years
16 years

Church of England, Riverton

6829

1 April 1914

Rev James Morland

No	917
Date of Notice	1 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Jasper Walden	Mabel Sinclair Trotter
BDM Match (96%)	Henry Jasper Walden	Anabel Sinclair Trotter
	💍 1914/3105
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dentist	Domestic Duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	6 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Riverton
Folio	6829
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev James Morland

918

8 April 1914

Ernest Edgar George Daniel
Adeline Rose Hill

Ernest Edgar George Daniel
Adeline Rose Hill
💍 1914/6383

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Duties

24
21

Riverton
Burnside Farm, Riverton

24 years
21 years

At the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Riverton

3794

8 April 1914

Arthur Evan Dobbie, Registrar of Marriages

No	918
Date of Notice	8 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Edgar George Daniel	Adeline Rose Hill
	💍 1914/6383
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Burnside Farm, Riverton
Length of Residence	24 years	21 years
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Riverton
Folio	3794
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Arthur Evan Dobbie, Registrar of Marriages

919

15 April 1914

Alfred James Ball
Evelyn Augusta Turner

Alfred James Ball
Evelyn Augusta Turner
💍 1914/3097

Widower
Spinster

Builder
Domestic Duties

40
23

Riverton
Riverton

5 days
10 weeks

Church of England, Riverton

6827

15 April 1914

Rev James Morland

No	919
Date of Notice	15 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred James Ball	Evelyn Augusta Turner
	💍 1914/3097
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic Duties
Age	40	23
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	5 days	10 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England, Riverton
Folio	6827
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev James Morland

920

16 April 1914

James McKenna
Clara Butler

James McKenna
Clara Butler
💍 1914/1024

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Duties

25
19

Round Hill
Round Hill

25 years
19 years

Roman Catholic Church, Milton Street, Riverton

4716

Annie Butler, mother

16 April 1914

Rev Patrick Murphy

No	920
Date of Notice	16 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McKenna	Clara Butler
	💍 1914/1024
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Duties
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Round Hill	Round Hill
Length of Residence	25 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Milton Street, Riverton
Folio	4716
Consent	Annie Butler, mother
Date of Certificate	16 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev Patrick Murphy

921

30 April 1914

Robert William Brownlee
Ellen Jane Rance

Robert William Brown Ure
Ellen Jane Rance
💍 1914/5904

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Domestic Duties

29
22

Winton
Waimatuku

29 years
22 years

Presbyterian Church at Waimatuku

3392

30 April 1914

Rev John Chisholm

No	921
Date of Notice	30 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William Brownlee	Ellen Jane Rance
BDM Match (94%)	Robert William Brown Ure	Ellen Jane Rance
	💍 1914/5904
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic Duties
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Winton	Waimatuku
Length of Residence	29 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church at Waimatuku
Folio	3392
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev John Chisholm

922

8 June 1914

Ernest George Pascoe
Dora Eileen Petchell

Ernest George Pascoe
Dora Eileen Petchell
💍 1914/3104

Bachelor
Spinster

Metal worker's assistant
Clerk

23
23

Riverton
Riverton

3 days
23 years

At the Private residence of Mr John Petchell, Havelock Street, Riverton

6828

8 June 1914

Rev James Morland

No	922
Date of Notice	8 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest George Pascoe	Dora Eileen Petchell
	💍 1914/3104
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Metal worker's assistant	Clerk
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	At the Private residence of Mr John Petchell, Havelock Street, Riverton
Folio	6828
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev James Morland

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).