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 2042

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1914 Registrar William Winstone White

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

8 June 1914

Joseph Walls
Jane Mary Jamieson

Joseph Walls
Jane Mary Jamieson
💍 1914/1044

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

37
29

Seafield
Tinwald

2 years
29 years

Church of Christ Ashburton

4678

8 June 1914

Rev J. M. Innes

No	29
Date of Notice	8 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Walls	Jane Mary Jamieson
	💍 1914/1044
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	37	29
Dwelling Place	Seafield	Tinwald
Length of Residence	2 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ Ashburton
Folio	4678
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev J. M. Innes

10 June 1914

Joseph Taylor
Mary Slemint

Joseph Taylor
Mary Slemint
💍 1914/1055

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
dressmaker

34
30

Dunedin
Ashburton

3 days
18 months

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

4679

10 June 1914

Rev. J. R. Burgin

No	30
Date of Notice	10 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Taylor	Mary Slemint
	💍 1914/1055
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	dressmaker
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	18 months
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	4679
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Burgin

15 June 1914

Maurice Francis Mahoney
Mary Emily Smith

Maurice Francis Mahoney
Mary Emily Smith
💍 1914/2311

Bachelor
Spinster

Chauffeur
domestic duties

37
34

Longbeach
Hampstead

10 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Church Ashburton

6036

15 June 1914

Dean O'Donnell

No	31
Date of Notice	15 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice Francis Mahoney	Mary Emily Smith
	💍 1914/2311
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chauffeur	domestic duties
Age	37	34
Dwelling Place	Longbeach	Hampstead
Length of Residence	10 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Ashburton
Folio	6036
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Dean O'Donnell

19 June 1914

Joseph Forbes Baker
Ethel May Hume

Joseph Forbes Baker
Ethel May Hume
💍 1914/5785

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
domestic duties

24
20

Seafield Road Ashburton
Seafield Road Ashburton

6 months
20 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

3252

Agnes Marianne Hume Mother of Minor

19 June 1914

W. W. White Registrar

No	32
Date of Notice	19 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Forbes Baker	Ethel May Hume
	💍 1914/5785
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	domestic duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Seafield Road Ashburton	Seafield Road Ashburton
Length of Residence	6 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	3252
Consent	Agnes Marianne Hume Mother of Minor
Date of Certificate	19 June 1914
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

23 June 1914

Benjamin Mackenzie
Frances Ellen Colville

Benjamin MacKenzie
Frances Ellen Colville
💍 1914/5792

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
domestic duties

25
19

Tinwald
Tinwald

18 years
18 months

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

3253

Alfred Colville father of Minor

23 June 1914

W. W. White Registrar

No	33
Date of Notice	23 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Mackenzie	Frances Ellen Colville
BDM Match (97%)	Benjamin MacKenzie	Frances Ellen Colville
	💍 1914/5792
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	domestic duties
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Tinwald
Length of Residence	18 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	3253
Consent	Alfred Colville father of Minor
Date of Certificate	23 June 1914
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

27 June 1914

Archibald Smith
Ellen Amelia Bryant

Archibald Smith
Ellen Amelia Bryant
💍 1914/2312

Bachelor
Spinster

Enginedriver
dressmaker

32
27

Carterton
Allenton

3 days
27 years

Roman Catholic Presbytery Ashburton

6037

27 June 1914

Dean O'Donnell

No	34
Date of Notice	27 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Smith	Ellen Amelia Bryant
	💍 1914/2312
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Enginedriver	dressmaker
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Carterton	Allenton
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery Ashburton
Folio	6037
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Dean O'Donnell

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).