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 2520

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1914 Registrar Henry Maxwell

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

23 February 1914

Kenneth Douglas Cameron
Constance Ellen Brooks

Kenneth Douglas Cameron
Constance Ellen Brooks
💍 1914/7533

Bachelor
Spinster

seaman

21
19

Dunedin
Dunedin

21 years
19 years

In the house of the Rev. E. Drake, 66 Fitzroy Street, Caversham

1577

Richard Frederick Brooks, father

23 February 1914

E. Drake

No	89
Date of Notice	23 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Douglas Cameron	Constance Ellen Brooks
	💍 1914/7533
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	seaman
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	21 years	19 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. E. Drake, 66 Fitzroy Street, Caversham
Folio	1577
Consent	Richard Frederick Brooks, father
Date of Certificate	23 February 1914
Officiating Minister	E. Drake

24 February 1914

Alexander Renton Carruthers
Katie Elizabeth Andrew

Alexander Denton Carruthers
Katie Elizabeth Andrew
💍 1914/8162

Bachelor
Spinster

engineer

23
22

Green Island
Green Island

3 days
8 years

In the First Church, Dunedin

1703

24 February 1914

G. H. Balfour

No	90
Date of Notice	24 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Renton Carruthers	Katie Elizabeth Andrew
BDM Match (98%)	Alexander Denton Carruthers	Katie Elizabeth Andrew
	💍 1914/8162
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	engineer
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Green Island	Green Island
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	In the First Church, Dunedin
Folio	1703
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1914
Officiating Minister	G. H. Balfour

24 February 1914

John Henry Mennell
Mary Elizabeth Allison

John Henry Mennell
Mary Elizabeth Allison
💍 1914/8052

Widower
Spinster

fisherman

46
43

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the house of the Rev. A. M. Dalrymple, 65 District Road, Mornington

1567

24 February 1914

A. M. Dalrymple

No	91
Date of Notice	24 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Mennell	Mary Elizabeth Allison
	💍 1914/8052
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	fisherman
Age	46	43
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. A. M. Dalrymple, 65 District Road, Mornington
Folio	1567
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1914
Officiating Minister	A. M. Dalrymple

24 February 1914

William John Collins
Mabel Catherine McGee

William John Collins
Mabel Catherine McGee
💍 1914/562

Bachelor
Spinster

stock agent

33
33

Wellington
Dunedin

5 days
1 month

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

229

24 February 1914

H. Maxwell

No	92
Date of Notice	24 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Collins	Mabel Catherine McGee
	💍 1914/562
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	stock agent
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 days	1 month
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	229
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1914
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

24 February 1914

William Arnott
Frances Mary York

William Arnott
Frances Mary York
💍 1914/8061

Bachelor
Spinster

lineman

35
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 years
6 weeks

In the Presbyterian Church, North East Valley

1575

24 February 1914

H. B. Gray

No	93
Date of Notice	24 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arnott	Frances Mary York
	💍 1914/8061
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	lineman
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church, North East Valley
Folio	1575
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1914
Officiating Minister	H. B. Gray

24 February 1914

Jonathan Clark Peek
Annabella Paterson

Johnathan Clark Peek
Annabella Paterson
💍 1914/8056

Bachelor
Widow

labourer

31
34

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 days
3 months

In the First Church, Dunedin

1570

24 February 1914

G. H. Balfour

No	94
Date of Notice	24 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jonathan Clark Peek	Annabella Paterson
BDM Match (98%)	Johnathan Clark Peek	Annabella Paterson
	💍 1914/8056
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	labourer
Age	31	34
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 days	3 months
Marriage Place	In the First Church, Dunedin
Folio	1570
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1914
Officiating Minister	G. H. Balfour

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).