Intentions to Marry, 1905 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840429, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1905 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1905a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1905b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1905c).

Page 024

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 1905 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

18 August 1905

Joseph Henry Deed
Sarah Miller

Joseph Henry Deed
Sarah Miller
💍 1905/2200

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic duties

51
22

Mayfield
Mayfield

12 months
15 years

Wesleyan Church, Mayfield

05/4604

18 August 1905

Rev. J. Wallis

No	58
Date of Notice	18 August 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Henry Deed	Sarah Miller
	💍 1905/2200
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic duties
Age	51	22
Dwelling Place	Mayfield	Mayfield
Length of Residence	12 months	15 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Mayfield
Folio	05/4604
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 August 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Wallis

16 August 1905

Herbert Mortimer Stonyer
Ada Black

Herbert Mortimer Stonger
Ada Black
💍 1905/2220

Widower
Spinster

Machinery Expert
Photographer

40
26

Tinwald
Ashburton

4 days
4 days

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

05/4607

16 August 1905

William Winsbury White, Registrar

No	59
Date of Notice	16 August 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Mortimer Stonyer	Ada Black
BDM Match (98%)	Herbert Mortimer Stonger	Ada Black
	💍 1905/2220
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Machinery Expert	Photographer
Age	40	26
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	05/4607
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 August 1905
Officiating Minister	William Winsbury White, Registrar

19 August 1905

Robert Thompson
Jane McDougall Allison

Robert Thompson
Jane McDougall Allison
💍 1905/2186

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Domestic duties

34
26

Tinwald
Ashburton

15 years
6 months

At the dwelling of Stephen Thompson, N.E. Belt, Netherby

05/4591

19 August 1905

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	59
Date of Notice	19 August 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Thompson	Jane McDougall Allison
	💍 1905/2186
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic duties
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Ashburton
Length of Residence	15 years	6 months
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of Stephen Thompson, N.E. Belt, Netherby
Folio	05/4591
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

22 August 1905

Joseph Alexander Donaldson
Margaret Gilmour Shearer

Joseph Alexander Donaldson
Margaret Gilmour Shearer
💍 1905/2194

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

24
24

Waterton
Wheatstone

24 years
24 years

In the dwelling of John Shearer, at Wheatstone

05/4599

22 August 1905

Rev. J. C. Paterson, M.A.

No	60
Date of Notice	22 August 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Alexander Donaldson	Margaret Gilmour Shearer
	💍 1905/2194
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Waterton	Wheatstone
Length of Residence	24 years	24 years
Marriage Place	In the dwelling of John Shearer, at Wheatstone
Folio	05/4599
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 August 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Paterson, M.A.

26 August 1905

John Hulton
Priscilla Davison

John Fulton
Priscilla Davison
💍 1905/2196

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

27
23

Winslow
Hinds

6 years
3 years

In the dwelling house of George Davison, at Hinds

05/4600

26 August 1905

Rev. J. C. Paterson, M.A.

No	61
Date of Notice	26 August 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hulton	Priscilla Davison
BDM Match (95%)	John Fulton	Priscilla Davison
	💍 1905/2196
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Winslow	Hinds
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the dwelling house of George Davison, at Hinds
Folio	05/4600
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Paterson, M.A.

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 1903. 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).