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 2040

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1914 Registrar William Winsbury 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

4 May 1914

Herbert David Butterick
Carrie Thomas

Herbert David Butterick
Carrie Thomas
💍 1914/6008

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

33
28

Wakanui
Ashburton

33 years
28 years

Baptist Church Ashburton

3243

4 May 1914

Rev. H. B. Hughes

No	18
Date of Notice	4 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert David Butterick	Carrie Thomas
	💍 1914/6008
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Wakanui	Ashburton
Length of Residence	33 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Ashburton
Folio	3243
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Hughes

7 May 1914

David Ross Harvey
Violet Mary Johnstone

David Ross Harvey
Violet Mary Johnstone
💍 1914/6009

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

27
23

Mayfield
Ruapuna

10 years
2 years

at the Dwelling of Christopher Johnstone Ruapuna

3244

7 May 1914

Rev. Geo Miller

No	19
Date of Notice	7 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Ross Harvey	Violet Mary Johnstone
	💍 1914/6009
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Mayfield	Ruapuna
Length of Residence	10 years	2 years
Marriage Place	at the Dwelling of Christopher Johnstone Ruapuna
Folio	3244
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo Miller

13 May 1914

Thomas Standish Dore
Hetty Houston

Thomas Standish Dove
Hetty Houston
💍 1914/6014

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
domestic duties

22
22

Longbeach
Waterton

22 years
22 years

Church of England Waterton

3248

13 May 1914

Rev. H. B. Jones

No	20
Date of Notice	13 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Standish Dore	Hetty Houston
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Standish Dove	Hetty Houston
	💍 1914/6014
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	domestic duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Longbeach	Waterton
Length of Residence	22 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Waterton
Folio	3248
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Jones

19 May 1914

Robert Skipper
Elizabeth Davey

Robert Skipper
Elizabeth Davey
💍 1914/6011

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
domestic duties

53
56

Ashburton
Ashburton

9 days
6 days

Church of England Tinwald

3245

19 May 1914

Rev. H. B. Jones

No	21
Date of Notice	19 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Skipper	Elizabeth Davey
	💍 1914/6011
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	53	56
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	9 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Church of England Tinwald
Folio	3245
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Jones

25 May 1914

George William Moore
Maude Mary Neville

George William Moore
Maude Mary Neville
💍 1914/1062

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
domestic duties

27
27

Netherby
Netherby

11 years
20 years

Church of England Ashburton

4680

25 May 1914

Rev. J. R. Burgin

No	22
Date of Notice	25 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Moore	Maude Mary Neville
	💍 1914/1062
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	domestic duties
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Netherby	Netherby
Length of Residence	11 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Ashburton
Folio	4680
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Burgin

26 May 1914

Charles Annett Keary
Mary O'Connor

Charles Annett
Mary O'Connor
💍 1914/5793

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

38
21

Hinds
Hinds

30 years
21 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

3254

26 May 1914

W. W. White Registrar

No	23
Date of Notice	26 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Annett Keary	Mary O'Connor
BDM Match (85%)	Charles Annett	Mary O'Connor
	💍 1914/5793
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	38	21
Dwelling Place	Hinds	Hinds
Length of Residence	30 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	3254
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 May 1914
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

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).