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 405

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1905 Registrar Henry Maxwell

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

13 January 1905

Clinton Heywood Brown
Sabine Pasley Jane Laura Hastie Brown

Clinton Heywood Sabine Pasley
Jane Laura Hastie Brown
💍 1905/6315

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
School Teacher

32
31

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
5 weeks

In the First Church, Dunedin

05/1346

13 January 1905

T. Nisbet

No	15
Date of Notice	13 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clinton Heywood Brown	Sabine Pasley Jane Laura Hastie Brown
BDM Match (60%)	Clinton Heywood Sabine Pasley	Jane Laura Hastie Brown
	💍 1905/6315
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	School Teacher
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	5 weeks
Marriage Place	In the First Church, Dunedin
Folio	05/1346
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1905
Officiating Minister	T. Nisbet

13 January 1905

Charles Edward Petherick
Carrie Ada Bond

Charles Edward Petherick
Carrie Ada Bond
💍 1905/6360

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

25
26

South Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
18 months

In the house of Mr. Thos: Chilton, 88 Hanover Street, Dunedin

05/1395

13 January 1905

W. A. Sinclair

No	16
Date of Notice	13 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Petherick	Carrie Ada Bond
	💍 1905/6360
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	18 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Thos: Chilton, 88 Hanover Street, Dunedin
Folio	05/1395
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1905
Officiating Minister	W. A. Sinclair

14 January 1905

James Turner
Ellen Race

James Turner
Ellen Race
💍 1905/6352

Widower
Spinster

Labourer

26
26

Maori Hill
North East Valley

15 years
6 years

In the Baptist Church, North East Valley

05/1411

14 January 1905

D. S. Mason

No	17
Date of Notice	14 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Turner	Ellen Race
	💍 1905/6352
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Maori Hill	North East Valley
Length of Residence	15 years	6 years
Marriage Place	In the Baptist Church, North East Valley
Folio	05/1411
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1905
Officiating Minister	D. S. Mason

16 January 1905

Alexander Kernohan
Louise Gaulton

Alexander Kernohan
Louise Gaulton
💍 1905/6351

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Teacher

48
32

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the house of the Rev. D. S. Mason, North East Valley

05/1410

16 January 1905

D. S. Mason

No	18
Date of Notice	16 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Kernohan	Louise Gaulton
	💍 1905/6351
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Teacher
Age	48	32
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. D. S. Mason, North East Valley
Folio	05/1410
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1905
Officiating Minister	D. S. Mason

17 January 1905

James Kilgour Hannah
Miriam Solomon

James Kilgour Hannah
Miriam Solomon
💍 1905/6403

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk

34
29

Mornington
Dunedin

1 month
4 years

In the house of Mr. Judah L. Solomon, 48 York Place, Dunedin

05/1604

17 January 1905

Wm. Scorgie

No	19
Date of Notice	17 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Kilgour Hannah	Miriam Solomon
	💍 1905/6403
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 month	4 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Judah L. Solomon, 48 York Place, Dunedin
Folio	05/1604
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Wm. Scorgie

17 January 1905

Charles Ashton Moss
Lena McConnell

Charles Ashton Moss
Lena McConnell
💍 1905/6322

Bachelor
Spinster

French Polisher

39
33

Dunedin
Dunedin

12 months
2 years

In St. Joseph's Cathedral Vestry, Dunedin

05/1368

17 January 1905

P. Murphy

No	20
Date of Notice	17 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Ashton Moss	Lena McConnell
	💍 1905/6322
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	French Polisher
Age	39	33
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	12 months	2 years
Marriage Place	In St. Joseph's Cathedral Vestry, Dunedin
Folio	05/1368
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1905
Officiating Minister	P. Murphy

18 January 1905

William Whitehouse Blair
Agnes Boyes Carruthers

William Whitehouse Blair
Agnes Boyes Carruthers
💍 1905/921

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Dressmaker

29
29

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
5 years

In the house of Mr. Jas. Carruthers, 31 Melville Street, Dunedin

05/3255

18 January 1905

R. Waddell

No	21
Date of Notice	18 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Whitehouse Blair	Agnes Boyes Carruthers
	💍 1905/921
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Dressmaker
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Jas. Carruthers, 31 Melville Street, Dunedin
Folio	05/3255
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1905
Officiating Minister	R. Waddell

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).