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 2981

District of Winton Quarter ending 30 September 1914 Registrar A. M. Herd

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

180

4 August 1914

William McDowell
Mabel Louisa Cox

William McDowell
Mabel Louisa Cox
💍 1914/2803

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

22
22

Kauana
Kauana

3 days
14 years

Dwelling house of William Alfred Cox, Kauana

6556

4 August 1914

Rev. F. J. Tylee

No	180
Date of Notice	4 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McDowell	Mabel Louisa Cox
	💍 1914/2803
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Kauana	Kauana
Length of Residence	3 days	14 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of William Alfred Cox, Kauana
Folio	6556
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. Tylee

181

31 August 1914

James Goble
Mary Reilly

James Goble
Mary Reilly
💍 1914/2816

Bachelor
Spinster

Surfaceman
Domestic duties

25
27

Hokonui
Winton

4 months
27 years

Roman Catholic Church, Winton

6643

31 August 1914

Rev. P. O'Neill

No	181
Date of Notice	31 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Goble	Mary Reilly
	💍 1914/2816
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman	Domestic duties
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Hokonui	Winton
Length of Residence	4 months	27 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Winton
Folio	6643
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. O'Neill

182

1 September 1914

Thomas Philip Robson
Ada Eliza Mills

Thomas Phillip Robinson
Ada Eliza Mills
💍 1914/2971

Widower
Spinster

Hairdresser
Domestic duties

48
40

Winton
Invercargill

8 years
5 years

Methodist Parsonage, Georgetown

6598

1 September 1914

Rev. G. P. Hunt

No	182
Date of Notice	1 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Philip Robson	Ada Eliza Mills
BDM Match (94%)	Thomas Phillip Robinson	Ada Eliza Mills
	💍 1914/2971
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic duties
Age	48	40
Dwelling Place	Winton	Invercargill
Length of Residence	8 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, Georgetown
Folio	6598
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Hunt

183

15 September 1914

Michael Baptist O'Brien
Mary Jane English

Michael Baptist OBrien
Mary Jane English
💍 1914/2817

Widower
Spinster

Nurseryman
Domestic duties

52
32

Winton
Centrebush

25 years
30 years

Roman Catholic Church, Centrebush

6644

15 September 1914

Rev. P. O'Neill

No	183
Date of Notice	15 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Baptist O'Brien	Mary Jane English
BDM Match (98%)	Michael Baptist OBrien	Mary Jane English
	💍 1914/2817
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Nurseryman	Domestic duties
Age	52	32
Dwelling Place	Winton	Centrebush
Length of Residence	25 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Centrebush
Folio	6644
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. O'Neill

184

22 September 1914

Ernest James Barsdell
Isabella Jessie McLeod

Ernest Leonard Barsdell
Isabella Jessie McLeod
💍 1914/2815

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Domestic duties

29
36

Winton
Winton

4 days
3 weeks

Residence of Allan McLeod, Winton

6642

22 September 1914

Rev. R. Mackie

No	184
Date of Notice	22 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest James Barsdell	Isabella Jessie McLeod
BDM Match (85%)	Ernest Leonard Barsdell	Isabella Jessie McLeod
	💍 1914/2815
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic duties
Age	29	36
Dwelling Place	Winton	Winton
Length of Residence	4 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Allan McLeod, Winton
Folio	6642
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Mackie

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).