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 2884

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 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

22 April 1914

William Cowan Heron Irwin
Elizabeth Fotheringham Daragh

William Cowan Heron Irwin
Elizabeth Fotheringham Darragh
💍 1914/6175

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Domestic

30
25

Grey Street, Invercargill
West Plains, Invercargill

20 years
25 years

Residence of John Daragh, West Plains, Invercargill

3761

22 April 1914

Rev. J. J. Young

No	69
Date of Notice	22 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cowan Heron Irwin	Elizabeth Fotheringham Daragh
BDM Match (98%)	William Cowan Heron Irwin	Elizabeth Fotheringham Darragh
	💍 1914/6175
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Grey Street, Invercargill	West Plains, Invercargill
Length of Residence	20 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Daragh, West Plains, Invercargill
Folio	3761
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Young

27 April 1914

Alexander Panther McKellar
Emily Philips Thomson

Alexander Rankin McKellar
Emily Philips Thomson
💍 1914/6174

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

45
26

Esk Street, Invercargill
Spey Street, Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

3760

27 April 1914

Rev. J. W. Shaw

No	70
Date of Notice	27 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Panther McKellar	Emily Philips Thomson
BDM Match (90%)	Alexander Rankin McKellar	Emily Philips Thomson
	💍 1914/6174
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	45	26
Dwelling Place	Esk Street, Invercargill	Spey Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	3760
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Shaw

27 April 1914

David John McKay
Agnes Wilson Aitken

David John McKay
Agnes Wilson Aitken
💍 1914/6176

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Dressmaker

29
25

Bluff
Rocomonth, Invercargill

15 months
25 years

Methodist Church, Elles Road, Invercargill

3762

27 April 1914

Rev. G. P. Hunt

No	71
Date of Notice	27 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David John McKay	Agnes Wilson Aitken
	💍 1914/6176
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Dressmaker
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Bluff	Rocomonth, Invercargill
Length of Residence	15 months	25 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Elles Road, Invercargill
Folio	3762
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Hunt

27 April 1914

Thomas Pound
Catherine Mary Ellen McGrath

Thomas Pound
Catherine Mary Ellen McGrath
💍 1914/946

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant
Typiste

29
26

Tyndall, Invercargill
Spey Street, Invercargill

6 years
20 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyndall, Invercargill

4613

27 April 1914

Very Rev. Dean Burke

No	72
Date of Notice	27 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Pound	Catherine Mary Ellen McGrath
	💍 1914/946
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	Typiste
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Tyndall, Invercargill	Spey Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyndall, Invercargill
Folio	4613
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Burke

28 April 1914

John Thomas Mair
Ethel Margaret Snow

John Thomas Mair
Ethel Margaret Snow
💍 1914/9084

Bachelor
Spinster

Architect
Home duties

37
32

Liddell Street, Invercargill
Liddell Street, Invercargill

5 days
6 weeks

Residence of Hugh Mair, 114 Liddell Street, Invercargill

4130

28 April 1914

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	73
Date of Notice	28 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Mair	Ethel Margaret Snow
	💍 1914/9084
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Architect	Home duties
Age	37	32
Dwelling Place	Liddell Street, Invercargill	Liddell Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Hugh Mair, 114 Liddell Street, Invercargill
Folio	4130
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

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).