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 308

District of Waimate Quarter ending 30 September 1905 Registrar W MacDermott

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

3 July 1905

William Thomas Bachelor
Ethel M. Jones

William Thomas
Ethel Mary Jones
💍 1905/2425

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher

25
20

Waimate
Waimate

10 years
10 years

Residence of W.T. Jones, Waimate

05/4833

Thos Jones, father of bride

3 July 1905

Rev. Geo. Barclay

No	24
Date of Notice	3 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Bachelor	Ethel M. Jones
BDM Match (71%)	William Thomas	Ethel Mary Jones
	💍 1905/2425
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W.T. Jones, Waimate
Folio	05/4833
Consent	Thos Jones, father of bride
Date of Certificate	3 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Barclay

4 July 1905

John Jas. Connolly
Celia Elizabeth Callinan

John James Connolly
Cecilia Elizabeth Callinan
💍 1905/2797

Bachelor
Spinster

Militiaman

31
24

Dunedin
Wellington

3 years
8 years

R.C. Church, Waimate

05/5237

4 July 1905

Rev. P. Regnaner

No	25
Date of Notice	4 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Jas. Connolly	Celia Elizabeth Callinan
BDM Match (88%)	John James Connolly	Cecilia Elizabeth Callinan
	💍 1905/2797
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Militiaman
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	8 years
Marriage Place	R.C. Church, Waimate
Folio	05/5237
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Regnaner

5 July 1905

James Hinds
Ellen Blackmore

James Nind
Ellen Blackmore
💍 1905/2426

Widower
Widow

Gardener

63
58

Waimate
Waimate

31 years
20 years

Residence of W. Goldsmith, Waimate

05/4834

5 July 1905

Rev. R. Paisley

No	26
Date of Notice	5 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hinds	Ellen Blackmore
BDM Match (91%)	James Nind	Ellen Blackmore
	💍 1905/2426
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Gardener
Age	63	58
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	31 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. Goldsmith, Waimate
Folio	05/4834
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Paisley

10 July 1905

George Hendry
Isabella Ann O'Brien

George Hendry
Isabella Ann Brien
💍 1905/2429

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

23
22

Invercargill
Waimate

8 months
20 years

Residence of John Hendry, Waimate

05/4837

10 July 1905

Rev. J. Sharp

No	27
Date of Notice	10 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Hendry	Isabella Ann O'Brien
BDM Match (95%)	George Hendry	Isabella Ann Brien
	💍 1905/2429
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Waimate
Length of Residence	8 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Hendry, Waimate
Folio	05/4837
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Sharp

14 July 1905

Richard Bruce Ward
Hannah Jane McPherson

Richard Bruce Ward
Hannah Jane McPherson
💍 1905/2798

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

26
23

Holme Station
Holme Station

4 years
6 months

Presbyterian Church, Waimate

05/5238

14 July 1905

Rev. W. S. Morrison

No	28
Date of Notice	14 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Bruce Ward	Hannah Jane McPherson
	💍 1905/2798
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Holme Station	Holme Station
Length of Residence	4 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Waimate
Folio	05/5238
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Morrison

4 August 1905

Henry Chas. Fergusson
Clara Annie Butter

Henry Charles Fergusson
Clara Annie Butter
💍 1905/2799

Widower
Spinster

Decorator

30
20

Waimate
Waimate

14 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Waimate

05/5239

Annie Butter, mother of bride

7 August 1905

Rev. W. S. Morrison

No	29
Date of Notice	4 August 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Chas. Fergusson	Clara Annie Butter
BDM Match (91%)	Henry Charles Fergusson	Clara Annie Butter
	💍 1905/2799
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Decorator
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	14 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Waimate
Folio	05/5239
Consent	Annie Butter, mother of bride
Date of Certificate	7 August 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Morrison

8 August 1905

Thomas Hayman
Jane Hodgkinson

Thomas Hayman
Jane Hodgkinson
💍 1905/2427

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

65
54

Studholme
Waimate

6 years
2 years

Residence of Rev. R. Paisley

05/4835

8 August 1905

Rev. R. Paisley

No	30
Date of Notice	8 August 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hayman	Jane Hodgkinson
	💍 1905/2427
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	65	54
Dwelling Place	Studholme	Waimate
Length of Residence	6 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. R. Paisley
Folio	05/4835
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Paisley

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).