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 2902

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1914

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

152

12 September 1914

Joseph Dawson
Edith Viola Butler

Joseph Dawson
Edith Viola Butler
💍 1914/2973

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman
Domestic

24
21

Don Street, Invercargill
McMaster Street, Invercargill

4 days
3 days

English Church, Gladstone, Invercargill

6600

12 September 1914

Rev. G. Fynes-Clinton

No	152
Date of Notice	12 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Dawson	Edith Viola Butler
	💍 1914/2973
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman	Domestic
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Don Street, Invercargill	McMaster Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 days	3 days
Marriage Place	English Church, Gladstone, Invercargill
Folio	6600
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Fynes-Clinton

153

12 September 1914

James Gerrard
Winifred Lizzie Marks

James Gerrard
Winifred Lizzie Marks
💍 1914/5409

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

33
23

Woodlands, Invercargill
Woodlands, Invercargill

16 months
14 months

Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

9139

12 September 1914

Rev. John Burridge

No	153
Date of Notice	12 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gerrard	Winifred Lizzie Marks
	💍 1914/5409
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Woodlands, Invercargill	Woodlands, Invercargill
Length of Residence	16 months	14 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	9139
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Burridge

154

14 September 1914

Albert Edward Harvey
Maude Ethel Foord

Albert Edward Harvey
Maude Ethel Foord
💍 1914/2864

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

25
24

Bowmont Street, Invercargill
Bowmont Street, Invercargill

20 months
12 months

Methodist Church, Ythan Street, Invercargill

6616

14 September 1914

Rev. F. B. Lawrence

No	154
Date of Notice	14 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Harvey	Maude Ethel Foord
	💍 1914/2864
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Bowmont Street, Invercargill	Bowmont Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	20 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Ythan Street, Invercargill
Folio	6616
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. B. Lawrence

155

15 September 1914

Leslie Ritchie Taylor
Edith Annie Louisa Dawson

Leslie Retalic Tayler
Edith Annie Louisa Dawson
💍 1914/2862

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Postmistress

25
25

Invercargill
Makarewa, Invercargill

20 days
2 years

English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

6614

15 September 1914

Rev. Archdn. Packe

No	155
Date of Notice	15 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Ritchie Taylor	Edith Annie Louisa Dawson
BDM Match (88%)	Leslie Retalic Tayler	Edith Annie Louisa Dawson
	💍 1914/2862
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Postmistress
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Makarewa, Invercargill
Length of Residence	20 days	2 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	6614
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdn. Packe

156

16 September 1914

John Carmichael
Elizabeth Sarah Martin Fisher

John Carmichael
Elizabeth Sarah Martin Frisken
💍 1914/4315

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

44
30

Woodlands, Invercargill
Myross Bush, Southland

42 years
30 years

Residence of Mrs Mary Ferguson, Myross Bush, Invercargill

8206

16 September 1914

Rev. J. S. Young

No	156
Date of Notice	16 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Carmichael	Elizabeth Sarah Martin Fisher
BDM Match (95%)	John Carmichael	Elizabeth Sarah Martin Frisken
	💍 1914/4315
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	44	30
Dwelling Place	Woodlands, Invercargill	Myross Bush, Southland
Length of Residence	42 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Mary Ferguson, Myross Bush, Invercargill
Folio	8206
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Young

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).