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 172

District of Geraldine Quarter ending 31 December 1905 Registrar Agnes Andrews

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

690

20 October 1905

James Love
Margaret Jane Skinner

James Love
Margaret Jane Skinner
💍 1905/4040

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
28

Gapes Valley
Hilton

1 year
28 years

The House of Mr Robert Skinner, Hilton

05/6583

20 October 1905

Rev. A. Bruce Todd, Presbyterian

No	690
Date of Notice	20 October 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Love	Margaret Jane Skinner
	💍 1905/4040
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Gapes Valley	Hilton
Length of Residence	1 year	28 years
Marriage Place	The House of Mr Robert Skinner, Hilton
Folio	05/6583
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Bruce Todd, Presbyterian

691

23 October 1905

John Benjamin Brears
Caroline Edith Howes

John Benjamin Brears
Caroline Edith Howes
💍 1905/4041

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Manager
Domestic Duties

29
25

Te Moana
Te Moana

4 days
25 years

The House of Mr William Howes, Te Moana

05/6584

23 October 1905

Rev. A. Bruce Todd, Presbyterian

No	691
Date of Notice	23 October 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Benjamin Brears	Caroline Edith Howes
	💍 1905/4041
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Te Moana	Te Moana
Length of Residence	4 days	25 years
Marriage Place	The House of Mr William Howes, Te Moana
Folio	05/6584
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Bruce Todd, Presbyterian

692

22 November 1905

Francis Charles
Catherine Earl

Francis Charles
Catherine Earl
💍 1905/4042

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
23

Hilton
Teakahu

3 years
23 years

Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine

05/6585

22 November 1905

Very Rev. H. G. Bowers, Roman Catholic

No	692
Date of Notice	22 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Charles	Catherine Earl
	💍 1905/4042
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Hilton	Teakahu
Length of Residence	3 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine
Folio	05/6585
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 November 1905
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. H. G. Bowers, Roman Catholic

693

24 November 1905

Austin Lysaght
Margaret Earl

Austin Lysaght
Margaret Earl
💍 1905/4043

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

35
29

Orari
Teakahu

6 months
29 years

Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine

05/6586

24 November 1905

Very Rev. H. G. Bowers, Roman Catholic

No	693
Date of Notice	24 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Austin Lysaght	Margaret Earl
	💍 1905/4043
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	35	29
Dwelling Place	Orari	Teakahu
Length of Residence	6 months	29 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine
Folio	05/6586
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 November 1905
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. H. G. Bowers, Roman Catholic

694

6 December 1905

Frederick William Freh
Frances Adeline Cooke

Frederick William Fish
Frances Adeline Cooke
💍 1905/4022

Bachelor
Spinster

Rent Officer
Hospital Nurse

38
32

Geraldine
Geraldine

3 days
3 weeks

St. Mary's Church, Geraldine

05/6589

6 December 1905

Rev. Staples Hamilton, Church of England

No	694
Date of Notice	6 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Freh	Frances Adeline Cooke
BDM Match (95%)	Frederick William Fish	Frances Adeline Cooke
	💍 1905/4022
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Rent Officer	Hospital Nurse
Age	38	32
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Geraldine
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Geraldine
Folio	05/6589
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Staples Hamilton, Church of England

695

6 December 1905

John Rasmussen
Hannah Hansen

John Rasmussen
Hannshen Hansen
💍 1905/4020

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

31
19

Geraldine
Geraldine

10 months
19 years

The House of Mr Matthias Hansen, Geraldine

05/6587

Matthias Hansen, father

6 December 1905

Rev. George Henry Mann, Primitive Methodist

No	695
Date of Notice	6 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Rasmussen	Hannah Hansen
BDM Match (90%)	John Rasmussen	Hannshen Hansen
	💍 1905/4020
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	31	19
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Geraldine
Length of Residence	10 months	19 years
Marriage Place	The House of Mr Matthias Hansen, Geraldine
Folio	05/6587
Consent	Matthias Hansen, father
Date of Certificate	6 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Henry Mann, Primitive Methodist

696

26 December 1905

Francis Matthews
Annie Jane Bowkett

Frances Matthews
Annie Jane Bowkett
💍 1905/4021

Bachelor
Spinster

Workman, Timber Trade
Domestic Duties

24
28

Geraldine
Geraldine

3 days
3 weeks

Primitive Methodist Church, Geraldine

05/6588

26 December 1905

Rev. George Henry Mann, Primitive Methodist

No	696
Date of Notice	26 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Matthews	Annie Jane Bowkett
BDM Match (97%)	Frances Matthews	Annie Jane Bowkett
	💍 1905/4021
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Workman, Timber Trade	Domestic Duties
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Geraldine
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Geraldine
Folio	05/6588
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Henry Mann, Primitive Methodist

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).