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 2266

District of Geraldine Quarter ending 30 June 1914 Registrar A. J. Readdie

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

930

11 May 1914

Harris John Thompson
Mary Agatha Cunnard

Harris John Thompson
Mary Agatha Cunnard
💍 1914/964

Bachelor
Spinster

Cycle and motor agent
Domestic

29
22

Geraldine
Temuka

4 years
22 years

Roman Catholic Priory Temuka

4607

11 May 1914

Rev. Francis Kerley, Roman Catholic Church

No	930
Date of Notice	11 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harris John Thompson	Mary Agatha Cunnard
	💍 1914/964
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cycle and motor agent	Domestic
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Temuka
Length of Residence	4 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Priory Temuka
Folio	4607
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Francis Kerley, Roman Catholic Church

931

13 May 1914

James Thomas Meredith Shaw
Fanny Elizabeth Bateman

James Thomas Meredith Shaw
Fanny Elizabeth Bateman
💍 1914/5783

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

22
19

Woodbury
Arundel

19 years
9 years

St. Mary's Anglican Church Geraldine

3268

Frederick Thomas Bateman, Father

13 May 1914

Rev. S. Hamilton, Church of England

No	931
Date of Notice	13 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Thomas Meredith Shaw	Fanny Elizabeth Bateman
	💍 1914/5783
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Woodbury	Arundel
Length of Residence	19 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church Geraldine
Folio	3268
Consent	Frederick Thomas Bateman, Father
Date of Certificate	13 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Hamilton, Church of England

932

27 May 1914

George Flower
Harriet Mary Bateman

George Flower
Harriet Mary Bateman
💍 1914/5784

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Cook

30
28

Arundel
Arundel

3 years
8 years

Howard Hall Arundel

3269

27 May 1914

Rev. S. Hamilton, Church of England

No	932
Date of Notice	27 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Flower	Harriet Mary Bateman
	💍 1914/5784
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Cook
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Arundel	Arundel
Length of Residence	3 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Howard Hall Arundel
Folio	3269
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Hamilton, Church of England

933

30 May 1914

George Crighton Chalmers
Mary Ellen Brookland

George Crighton Chalmers
Mary Ellen Brookland
💍 1914/5820

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
26

Rangitata
Milford

25 years
18 months

Residence of Robert Brookland Temuka

3306

30 May 1914

Rev. Charles McDonald, Presbyterian Church

No	933
Date of Notice	30 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Crighton Chalmers	Mary Ellen Brookland
	💍 1914/5820
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Rangitata	Milford
Length of Residence	25 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Robert Brookland Temuka
Folio	3306
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Charles McDonald, Presbyterian Church

934

2 June 1914

James Gilbert Mullerhausen
Edith Susan Sparkes Smith

James Gilbert Mullerhausen
Edith Susan Sparkes Smith
💍 1914/5778

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddlery Salesman
Domestic

23
27

Geraldine
Geraldine

3 days
2 months

Residence of William Rae Geraldine

3263

2 June 1914

Rev. Ben Dudley, Methodist Church

No	934
Date of Notice	2 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gilbert Mullerhausen	Edith Susan Sparkes Smith
	💍 1914/5778
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddlery Salesman	Domestic
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Geraldine
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Residence of William Rae Geraldine
Folio	3263
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Ben Dudley, Methodist Church

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).