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 2036

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 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

23 February 1914

William Albert Burley
Margaret Evangeline Vincent

William Albert Burley
Margaret Evangeline Vincent
💍 1914/9146

Bachelor
Spinster

Clergyman
domestic duties

28
28

Auckland
Ashburton

3 days
7 years

Baring Square Church Ashburton

4243

23 February 1914

Rev. W. J. Elliott

No	6
Date of Notice	23 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Albert Burley	Margaret Evangeline Vincent
	💍 1914/9146
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clergyman	domestic duties
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Baring Square Church Ashburton
Folio	4243
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Elliott

27 February 1914

Allan McLean Mackintosh
Grace Isabell Jackson

Allan McLean MacKintosh
Grace Isabell Jackson
💍 1914/6716

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
dressmaker

25
30

Drummond
Wyndham

3 days
6 weeks

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

394

27 February 1914

W. W. White Registrar

No	7
Date of Notice	27 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan McLean Mackintosh	Grace Isabell Jackson
BDM Match (98%)	Allan McLean MacKintosh	Grace Isabell Jackson
	💍 1914/6716
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	dressmaker
Age	25	30
Dwelling Place	Drummond	Wyndham
Length of Residence	3 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	394
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1914
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

3 March 1914

Thomas Turner
Kate Dalley

Thomas Turner
Kate Dalley
💍 1914/7557

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
laundress

46
42

Longbeach
Longbeach

12 years
9 years

Church of England Tinwald

1644

3 March 1914

Rev. H. B. Jones

No	8
Date of Notice	3 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Turner	Kate Dalley
	💍 1914/7557
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	laundress
Age	46	42
Dwelling Place	Longbeach	Longbeach
Length of Residence	12 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Tinwald
Folio	1644
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Jones

10 March 1914

Herbert Banks Shearer
Ethel Agnes Maud Schneider

Herbert Banks Shearer
Ethel Agnes Maud Schneider
💍 1914/7556

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
domestic duties

26
21

Gisborne
Tinwald

3 days
21 years

Methodist Church Tinwald

1643

10 March 1914

Rev. B. J. James

No	9
Date of Notice	10 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Banks Shearer	Ethel Agnes Maud Schneider
	💍 1914/7556
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	domestic duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Tinwald
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Tinwald
Folio	1643
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. J. James

21 March 1914

Joseph Harris
Amy Mary Nelson

Joseph Harris
Amy Mary Hewson
💍 1914/806

Bachelor
Spinster

contractor
domestic duties

34
35

Allenton
Ashburton

34 years
35 years

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

4445

21 March 1914

Rev. J. R. Burgin

No	10
Date of Notice	21 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Harris	Amy Mary Nelson
BDM Match (93%)	Joseph Harris	Amy Mary Hewson
	💍 1914/806
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	contractor	domestic duties
Age	34	35
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	34 years	35 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	4445
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Burgin

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).