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 2985

District of Wyndham Quarter ending 31 March 1914 Registrar A. W. Mulligan

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

6 January 1914

Robert Grieve
Jemima Irvine Hardie

Robert Grieve
Jemima Irvine Howrie
💍 1914/8137

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

27
29

Mimihau
Menzies Ferry

18 years
5 years

The residence of Mrs Elizabeth Hardie, Menzies Ferry

1678

6 January 1914

Rev D. Maclean, Edendale

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Grieve	Jemima Irvine Hardie
BDM Match (93%)	Robert Grieve	Jemima Irvine Howrie
	💍 1914/8137
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Mimihau	Menzies Ferry
Length of Residence	18 years	5 years
Marriage Place	The residence of Mrs Elizabeth Hardie, Menzies Ferry
Folio	1678
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev D. Maclean, Edendale

31 January 1914

Andrew Allison Aitken
Mary King

Andrew Allison Aitken
Mary King
💍 1914/7670

Bachelor
Spinster

Jeweller
Domestic

29
22

Wyndham
Wyndham

6 years
life

The residence of Mr Thomas King, Wyndham

1826

31 January 1914

Rev H. C. R. C. Blathwayt, Wyndham

No	2
Date of Notice	31 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Allison Aitken	Mary King
	💍 1914/7670
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jeweller	Domestic
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Wyndham	Wyndham
Length of Residence	6 years	life
Marriage Place	The residence of Mr Thomas King, Wyndham
Folio	1826
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev H. C. R. C. Blathwayt, Wyndham

24 February 1914

Peter Jones
Margaret Mary McLauchlan

Peter Jones
Margaret Mary McLauchlan
💍 1914/7688

Bachelor
Spinster

Linotype Operator
Domestic

28
22

Invercargill
Wyndham

2 years
22 years

The Presbyterian Church, Wyndham

1829

24 February 1914

Rev James Clarke, Wyndham

No	3
Date of Notice	24 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Jones	Margaret Mary McLauchlan
	💍 1914/7688
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linotype Operator	Domestic
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Wyndham
Length of Residence	2 years	22 years
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Church, Wyndham
Folio	1829
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev James Clarke, Wyndham

7 March 1914

David Allan
Hilda Mary Macdonald

David Allan
Hilda Mary Macdonald
💍 1914/7690

Bachelor
Spinster

Manager Stock & Station Agency Co
domestic duties

32
21

Dunedin
Edendale

10 years
21 years

at residence of Donald Macdonald, Edendale House, Edendale

1831

7 March 1914

Rev H. C. R. C. Blathwayt, Wyndham

No	4
Date of Notice	7 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Allan	Hilda Mary Macdonald
	💍 1914/7690
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manager Stock & Station Agency Co	domestic duties
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Edendale
Length of Residence	10 years	21 years
Marriage Place	at residence of Donald Macdonald, Edendale House, Edendale
Folio	1831
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev H. C. R. C. Blathwayt, Wyndham

30 March 1914

Samuel Murray Townley
Elizabeth Mullican Waters

Samuel Murray Townley
Elizabeth Mullican Waters
💍 1914/6297

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

31
28

Edendale
Mataura Island

3 weeks
24 years

residence of David Waters, Mataura Island

3834

30 March 1914

Rev D. McLennan, Edendale

No	5
Date of Notice	30 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Murray Townley	Elizabeth Mullican Waters
	💍 1914/6297
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Edendale	Mataura Island
Length of Residence	3 weeks	24 years
Marriage Place	residence of David Waters, Mataura Island
Folio	3834
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev D. McLennan, Edendale

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).