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 2196

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 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

757

5 October 1914

Frank Arnold Hansmann
Louisa Jeanette Ziegler

Frank Arnold Hausmann
Louisa Jeanette Tiegler
💍 1914/4923

Bachelor
Spinster

Postmaster
Nurse

30
36

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
4 weeks

Holy Trinity Church, Avonside

8846

5 October 1914

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	757
Date of Notice	5 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Arnold Hansmann	Louisa Jeanette Ziegler
BDM Match (95%)	Frank Arnold Hausmann	Louisa Jeanette Tiegler
	💍 1914/4923
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postmaster	Nurse
Age	30	36
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Avonside
Folio	8846
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

758

5 October 1914

Alexander Maxwell Russell Gray
Alice Oroya Owen

Alexander Maxwell Russell Gray
Alice Oroya Owen
💍 1914/4903

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxi-cab Proprietor

37
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

14 years
12 years

Wesleyan Church, Fitzgerald Av., Christchurch

8803

5 October 1914

Rev. W. A. Sinclair, Methodist

No	758
Date of Notice	5 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Maxwell Russell Gray	Alice Oroya Owen
	💍 1914/4903
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxi-cab Proprietor
Age	37	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	14 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Fitzgerald Av., Christchurch
Folio	8803
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Sinclair, Methodist

759

5 October 1914

Hubert Michell Williams
Mabel Grace Mallard

Hubert Michell Williams
Mabel Grace Mallard
💍 1914/4898

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Clerk

23
24

Sydenham
Sydenham

23 years
24 years

St Mary's Church, Addington

8821

5 October 1914

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	759
Date of Notice	5 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubert Michell Williams	Mabel Grace Mallard
	💍 1914/4898
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Clerk
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	23 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	8821
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

760

5 October 1914

James Snelling
Cicelia Ryan

James Snelling
Cicelia Ryan
💍 1914/5389

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Machinist

33
30

Woolston
Woolston

33 years
30 years

St. John's Church, Woolston

9320

5 October 1914

Rev. H. N. Roberts, Anglican

No	760
Date of Notice	5 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Snelling	Cicelia Ryan
	💍 1914/5389
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Machinist
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Woolston
Length of Residence	33 years	30 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Woolston
Folio	9320
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Roberts, Anglican

761

5 October 1914

Amos Harold Cook
Ethel Louise Marsh

Amos Harold Cook
Ethel Louise Marsh
💍 1914/4710

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Milliner

24
24

Marshland
Papanui

15 years
4 years

St. Paul's Church, Papanui

8708

5 October 1914

Rev. W. H. Orbell, Anglican

No	761
Date of Notice	5 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Amos Harold Cook	Ethel Louise Marsh
	💍 1914/4710
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Milliner
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Marshland	Papanui
Length of Residence	15 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Papanui
Folio	8708
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Orbell, Anglican

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).