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 2180

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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

684

4 September 1914

Karl Friedrich August Eilken
Sarah Jane Hamilton

Karl Friedrick August Eilken
Sarah Jane Hamilton
💍 1914/2455

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

31
27

Tai Tapu
Lincoln

3 years
3 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

6133

4 September 1914

Registrar

No	684
Date of Notice	4 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Karl Friedrich August Eilken	Sarah Jane Hamilton
BDM Match (98%)	Karl Friedrick August Eilken	Sarah Jane Hamilton
	💍 1914/2455
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Tai Tapu	Lincoln
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	6133
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar

685

4 September 1914

Joseph Henry Templeton
Florence Arthur

Joseph Henry Templeton
Florence Arthur
💍 1914/9453

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Typist

25
24

St. Albans
St. Albans

18 years
3 years

Methodist Church Edgeware Rd. St. Albans

6299

4 September 1914

Rev. L. B. Neale, Methodist

No	685
Date of Notice	4 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Henry Templeton	Florence Arthur
	💍 1914/9453
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Typist
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	18 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Edgeware Rd. St. Albans
Folio	6299
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. B. Neale, Methodist

686

4 September 1914

Donald Morrison
Eva Clavley Wreathall

Donald Morrison
Eva Clewley Wreathall
💍 1914/2461

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Clerk

25
27

Linwood
Linwood

4 years
7 years

St. John's Church Christchurch

6188

4 September 1914

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	686
Date of Notice	4 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Morrison	Eva Clavley Wreathall
BDM Match (95%)	Donald Morrison	Eva Clewley Wreathall
	💍 1914/2461
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Clerk
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	4 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church Christchurch
Folio	6188
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

687

4 September 1914

Charles Frederick Bennett
Ivy Mary Alice Sheard

Charles Fredrick Bennett
Ivy Mary Alice Sheard
💍 1914/2471

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic

21
17

Sydenham
Sydenham

Life
15 years

House of Mr Joll 199 Wilson's Rd Sydenham

6197

Alice Maria Joll formerly Sheard Mother

4 September 1914

Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

No	687
Date of Notice	4 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Frederick Bennett	Ivy Mary Alice Sheard
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Fredrick Bennett	Ivy Mary Alice Sheard
	💍 1914/2471
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	Life	15 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr Joll 199 Wilson's Rd Sydenham
Folio	6197
Consent	Alice Maria Joll formerly Sheard Mother
Date of Certificate	4 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

688

7 September 1914

Francois Auguste Trayler
Afuna Laura Mabel Aitchison

Francis Auguste Frayle
Afuna Laura Mabel Aitchison
💍 1914/2493

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Grocer
Telephone Cadette

32
29

Christchurch
Sydenham

7 years
20 years

St. David's Manse Sydenham

6222

7 September 1914

Rev. C. Murray, Presbyterian

No	688
Date of Notice	7 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francois Auguste Trayler	Afuna Laura Mabel Aitchison
BDM Match (94%)	Francis Auguste Frayle	Afuna Laura Mabel Aitchison
	💍 1914/2493
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Grocer	Telephone Cadette
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sydenham
Length of Residence	7 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. David's Manse Sydenham
Folio	6222
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Murray, Presbyterian

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).