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 2876

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 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

16 March 1914

George Alexander Munro
Jane Strang

George Alexander Munro
Jane Strang
💍 1914/8212

Bachelor
Spinster

Bookseller
Domestic

29
27

114 King Edward Street, Dunedin
100 Esk Street, Invercargill

2 years
7 years

Residence of Jane Strang, 100 Esk Street, Invercargill

1804

16 March 1914

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	36
Date of Notice	16 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Alexander Munro	Jane Strang
	💍 1914/8212
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bookseller	Domestic
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	114 King Edward Street, Dunedin	100 Esk Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Jane Strang, 100 Esk Street, Invercargill
Folio	1804
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

18 March 1914

William Paterson
Sarah McKendry

William Herbison
Sarah McKendry
💍 1914/8204

Bachelor
Spinster

Bacon Curer
Domestic

29
26

Woodlands, Invercargill
Woodlands, Invercargill

3 days
26 years

Residence of James McKendry, Woodlands, Invercargill

1802

18 March 1914

Rev. A. H. Fowles

No	37
Date of Notice	18 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Paterson	Sarah McKendry
BDM Match (84%)	William Herbison	Sarah McKendry
	💍 1914/8204
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bacon Curer	Domestic
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Woodlands, Invercargill	Woodlands, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of James McKendry, Woodlands, Invercargill
Folio	1802
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Fowles

24 March 1914

David Henry Small
Violet McFarlane

David Henry Small
Violet McFarlane
💍 1914/9296

Bachelor
Spinster

Hardware Merchant
Saleswoman

30
30

Dee Street, Invercargill
Nith Street, Invercargill

3 days
3 months

Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

4468

24 March 1914

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	38
Date of Notice	24 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Henry Small	Violet McFarlane
	💍 1914/9296
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hardware Merchant	Saleswoman
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Dee Street, Invercargill	Nith Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	4468
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

24 March 1914

George Gray
Isabella Hall Blakie

George Gray
Isabella Hall Blakie
💍 1914/8213

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

27
26

Wallacetown, Invercargill
Ryal Bush, Invercargill

27 years
26 years

Residence of Walter W. Blakie, Branxholm, Ryal Bush, Invercargill

1805

24 March 1914

Rev. A. Begg

No	39
Date of Notice	24 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Gray	Isabella Hall Blakie
	💍 1914/8213
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Wallacetown, Invercargill	Ryal Bush, Invercargill
Length of Residence	27 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Walter W. Blakie, Branxholm, Ryal Bush, Invercargill
Folio	1805
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Begg

25 March 1914

William Buchanan
Effie Pearl Boyce

William Buchanan
Effie Pearl Boyce
💍 1914/6235

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic

25
21

Avenal Road, Invercargill
Mary Street, Invercargill

3 years
21 years

English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

3745

25 March 1914

Rev. Andrew Pack

No	40
Date of Notice	25 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Buchanan	Effie Pearl Boyce
	💍 1914/6235
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Avenal Road, Invercargill	Mary Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	21 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	3745
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Andrew Pack

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).