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 2258

District of Ellesmere Quarter ending 30 June 1914 Registrar Walter Abbott Mansell

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

14/14

27 April 1914

George Albert Marsh
Elizabeth Margaret Johnson

George Albert Marsh
Elizabeth Margaret Johnson
💍 1914/9376

Bachelor
Spinster

Creamery Manager
Domestic Duties

27
21

Southbridge
Killinchy

5 years
11 years

Church of England, Killinchy

4394

27 April 1914

Rev H. G. Hawkins, Southbridge

No	14/14
Date of Notice	27 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Albert Marsh	Elizabeth Margaret Johnson
	💍 1914/9376
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Creamery Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Southbridge	Killinchy
Length of Residence	5 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Killinchy
Folio	4394
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Hawkins, Southbridge

15/14

11 May 1914

William John Stephens
Agnes Elizabeth Crossen

William John Stephens
Agnes Elizabeth Crossen
💍 1914/9038

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

33
24

Dunsandel
Brookside

29 years
24 years

Residence of Mr William Crossen, Brookside

4108

11 May 1914

Rev J. S. Reid, Dunsandel

No	15/14
Date of Notice	11 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Stephens	Agnes Elizabeth Crossen
	💍 1914/9038
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Dunsandel	Brookside
Length of Residence	29 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr William Crossen, Brookside
Folio	4108
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev J. S. Reid, Dunsandel

16/14

30 May 1914

Harry James Page
Mary Caroline Bennett

Harry James Page
Mary Caroline Bennett
💍 1914/2156

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

24
19

Southbridge
Southbridge

4 years
19 years

Residence of Mr C. Cooke, Southbridge

5831

Flora Cooke, mother

30 May 1914

Rev William Grigg, Leeston

No	16/14
Date of Notice	30 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry James Page	Mary Caroline Bennett
	💍 1914/2156
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Southbridge	Southbridge
Length of Residence	4 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr C. Cooke, Southbridge
Folio	5831
Consent	Flora Cooke, mother
Date of Certificate	30 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev William Grigg, Leeston

17/14

2 June 1914

Robert Charles Millar
Jane Bryson

Robert Charles Millar
Jane Bryson
💍 1914/5775

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

25
23

Irwell
Springfield

25 years
23 years

Residence of Mr John Wallace, Irwell

3260

2 June 1914

Rev R. H. Blair, Leeston

No	17/14
Date of Notice	2 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Charles Millar	Jane Bryson
	💍 1914/5775
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Irwell	Springfield
Length of Residence	25 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr John Wallace, Irwell
Folio	3260
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev R. H. Blair, Leeston

18/14

5 June 1914

Henry Russell Calthorpe Cooper
Margaret Jane Hutcheson Manson

Henry Russell Calthrope Cooper
Margaret Jane Hutchison Manson
💍 1914/8910

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
22

Lakeside
Lakeside

16 years
10 years

Presbyterian Church, Southbridge

3482

5 June 1914

Rev George Lindsay, Southbridge

No	18/14
Date of Notice	5 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Russell Calthorpe Cooper	Margaret Jane Hutcheson Manson
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Russell Calthrope Cooper	Margaret Jane Hutchison Manson
	💍 1914/8910
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Lakeside	Lakeside
Length of Residence	16 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Southbridge
Folio	3482
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev George Lindsay, Southbridge

19/14

23 June 1914

Henry Hugh Johnston
Lucy Gertrude Johnston

Henry Hugh Johnston
Lucy Gertrude Johnston
💍 1914/5776

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
21

Hinds
Lakeside

1 year
2 years

Presbyterian Church, Leeston

3261

23 June 1914

Rev R. H. Blair, Leeston

No	19/14
Date of Notice	23 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Hugh Johnston	Lucy Gertrude Johnston
	💍 1914/5776
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Hinds	Lakeside
Length of Residence	1 year	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Leeston
Folio	3261
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev R. H. Blair, Leeston

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).