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 168

District of Geraldine Quarter ending 30 June 1905 Registrar Agnes Andrews Smith

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

675

10 April 1905

Thomas Alexander Paterson
Margaret Gibson McBeth

Thomas Alexander Paterson
Margaret Gibson McBeth
💍 1905/723

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
General Servant

34
26

Cooper's Creek
Pleasant Valley

3 weeks

Residence of Angus McPherson, Pleasant Valley

05/3028

10 April 1905

Rev. A. Bruce Todd (Presbyterian)

No	675
Date of Notice	10 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Alexander Paterson	Margaret Gibson McBeth
	💍 1905/723
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	General Servant
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Cooper's Creek	Pleasant Valley
Length of Residence		3 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Angus McPherson, Pleasant Valley
Folio	05/3028
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Bruce Todd (Presbyterian)

676

1 May 1905

Frederick Hendry
Mary Josephine Bohan

Frederick Hendry
Mary Josephine Bohan
💍 1905/704

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Tailoress

29
31

Geraldine
Geraldine

4 days

Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine

05/3033

1 May 1905

Rev. H. G. Bowers (Roman Catholic)

No	676
Date of Notice	1 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Hendry	Mary Josephine Bohan
	💍 1905/704
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Tailoress
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Geraldine
Length of Residence		4 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine
Folio	05/3033
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Bowers (Roman Catholic)

677

9 May 1905

John Boughton
Christina Washer

John Boughton
Christiana Washer
💍 1905/722

Widower
Widow

Storekeeper
Cook

49
44

Geraldine
Geraldine

5 years
3 months

St. Mary's Church, Geraldine

05/3027

9 May 1905

Rev. Stapler Hamilton (Church of England)

No	677
Date of Notice	9 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Boughton	Christina Washer
BDM Match (97%)	John Boughton	Christiana Washer
	💍 1905/722
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Storekeeper	Cook
Age	49	44
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Geraldine
Length of Residence	5 years	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Geraldine
Folio	05/3027
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Stapler Hamilton (Church of England)

678

16 May 1905

John Alexander Rowan
Mabel Howes

John Alexander Rowan
Mabel Howes
💍 1905/724

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

31
23

Te Moana
Te Moana

23 years

Residence of William Howes, Te Moana

05/3029

16 May 1905

Rev. A. Bruce Todd (Presbyterian)

No	678
Date of Notice	16 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander Rowan	Mabel Howes
	💍 1905/724
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Te Moana	Te Moana
Length of Residence		23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Howes, Te Moana
Folio	05/3029
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Bruce Todd (Presbyterian)

679

23 May 1905

Daniel Fraser
Catherine Flanagan

Daniel Fraser
Catherine Flanaghan
💍 1905/2764

Daniel Fraser
Isabella Glen Cameron
💍 1905/1967

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Servant

29
30

Orari
Orari

3 weeks

Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine

05/5227

23 May 1905

Rev. H. G. Bowers (Roman Catholic)

No	679
Date of Notice	23 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Fraser	Catherine Flanagan
BDM Match (97%)	Daniel Fraser	Catherine Flanaghan
	💍 1905/2764
BDM Match (62%)	Daniel Fraser	Isabella Glen Cameron
	💍 1905/1967
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Orari	Orari
Length of Residence		3 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine
Folio	05/5227
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Bowers (Roman Catholic)

680

29 May 1905

John Shannon Pye
Ethel May Grimshaw

John Shannon Pye
Ethel May Scrimshaw
💍 1905/552

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Tailoress

21
23

Geraldine
Christchurch

5 months

St. Michael's Church, Christchurch

05/2856

29 May 1905

Rev. Alfred Walter Averill (Church of England)

No	680
Date of Notice	29 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Shannon Pye	Ethel May Grimshaw
BDM Match (95%)	John Shannon Pye	Ethel May Scrimshaw
	💍 1905/552
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Tailoress
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Christchurch
Length of Residence		5 months
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Church, Christchurch
Folio	05/2856
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Walter Averill (Church of England)

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).