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 2908

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 1914 Registrar J. G. Petrie

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

175

2 November 1914

Martin Moran
Catherine Maloney

Martin Moran
Catherine Maloney
💍 1914/4298

Martin Forde
Sarah Maloney
💍 1914/4287

Stanley Victor Farrant
Catherine Maloney
💍 1915/8144

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

37
32

Lochiel, Invercargill
West Plains, Southland

2 months
32 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill

8170

2 November 1914

Rev. F. W. Woods

No	175
Date of Notice	2 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Moran	Catherine Maloney
	💍 1914/4298
BDM Match (67%)	Martin Forde	Sarah Maloney
	💍 1914/4287
BDM Match (64%)	Stanley Victor Farrant	Catherine Maloney
	💍 1915/8144
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	37	32
Dwelling Place	Lochiel, Invercargill	West Plains, Southland
Length of Residence	2 months	32 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill
Folio	8170
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Woods

176

5 November 1914

Walter James Robinson Simpson
Margaret McKerchar

Walter James Robinson Simpson
Margaret McKerchar
💍 1914/4279

Bachelor
Spinster

Auctioneer
Household duties

32
30

24 Eye Street, Invercargill
Woodland, Invercargill

12 years
31 years

Residence of James McKerchar, Woodland, Invercargill

8168

5 November 1914

Rev. G. H. Jupp

No	176
Date of Notice	5 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter James Robinson Simpson	Margaret McKerchar
	💍 1914/4279
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer	Household duties
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	24 Eye Street, Invercargill	Woodland, Invercargill
Length of Residence	12 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Residence of James McKerchar, Woodland, Invercargill
Folio	8168
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Jupp

177

5 November 1914

Martin Forde
Sarah Maloney

Martin Forde
Sarah Maloney
💍 1914/4287

Martin Moran
Catherine Maloney
💍 1914/4298

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

34
26

West Plains, Invercargill
West Plains, Invercargill

34 years
26 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill

8169

5 November 1914

Rev. F. W. Woods

No	177
Date of Notice	5 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Forde	Sarah Maloney
	💍 1914/4287
BDM Match (67%)	Martin Moran	Catherine Maloney
	💍 1914/4298
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	West Plains, Invercargill	West Plains, Invercargill
Length of Residence	34 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill
Folio	8169
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Woods

178

6 November 1914

Ernest William Cannell
Ada Catherine Kingsbury

Ernest William Cannele
Ada Catherine Kingscroy
💍 1914/4305

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

26
28

Mabel Bush, Invercargill
Mabel Bush, Invercargill

8 months
8 months

English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

8171

6 November 1914

Ven. Archdeacon Packe

No	178
Date of Notice	6 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest William Cannell	Ada Catherine Kingsbury
BDM Match (91%)	Ernest William Cannele	Ada Catherine Kingscroy
	💍 1914/4305
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Mabel Bush, Invercargill	Mabel Bush, Invercargill
Length of Residence	8 months	8 months
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	8171
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon Packe

179

10 November 1914

Andrew James Stott
Rachel Stanley "formerly Linden"

Andrew James Stott
Rachel Stanley
💍 1914/4252

Widower
Divorced

Baker
Housekeeper

28
29

Mary Street, Invercargill
Mary Street, Invercargill

28 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

8139

10 November 1914

Registrar

No	179
Date of Notice	10 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew James Stott	Rachel Stanley "formerly Linden"
BDM Match (72%)	Andrew James Stott	Rachel Stanley
	💍 1914/4252
Condition	Widower	Divorced
Profession	Baker	Housekeeper
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Mary Street, Invercargill	Mary Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	28 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	8139
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 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).