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 418

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

8 March 1905

John Thomas Staples
Violet Marguerite Gillies

John Thomas Staples
Violet Marguerite Gillies
💍 1905/5035

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25 years
20 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
5 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriage, Dunedin

05/1314

Catherine Maley, Guardian

8 March 1905

H. Maxwell

No	99
Date of Notice	8 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Staples	Violet Marguerite Gillies
	💍 1905/5035
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriage, Dunedin
Folio	05/1314
Consent	Catherine Maley, Guardian
Date of Certificate	8 March 1905
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

100

8 March 1905

Charles George Arthur Smith
Eliza Maxwell

Charles George Arthur Smith
Eliza Maxwell
💍 1905/6297

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

31 years
31 years

Dunedin
South Dunedin

31 years
12 years

In All Saints Church

05/1326

8 March 1905

A. R. Fitchett

No	100
Date of Notice	8 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles George Arthur Smith	Eliza Maxwell
	💍 1905/6297
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	31 years	31 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	31 years	12 years
Marriage Place	In All Saints Church
Folio	05/1326
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1905
Officiating Minister	A. R. Fitchett

101

9 March 1905

Percival William James Priest
Maude Ethel Tapley

Percival William James Priest
Maude Ethel Tapley
💍 1905/6276

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

32 years
27 years

Mornington
Dunedin

20 years
4 years

In All Saints Church

05/1328

9 March 1905

C. S. Bowden

No	101
Date of Notice	9 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival William James Priest	Maude Ethel Tapley
	💍 1905/6276
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	32 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In All Saints Church
Folio	05/1328
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1905
Officiating Minister	C. S. Bowden

102

10 March 1905

Thomas Alexander Hunter
Isabel Zella Pope

Thomas Alexander Hunter
Isabel Zella Pope
💍 1905/6296

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher

29 years
22 years

Roslyn
Caversham

1 week
9 years

In St. Peters Church

05/1325

10 March 1905

Geo. P. Beaumont

No	102
Date of Notice	10 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Alexander Hunter	Isabel Zella Pope
	💍 1905/6296
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher
Age	29 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Caversham
Length of Residence	1 week	9 years
Marriage Place	In St. Peters Church
Folio	05/1325
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Geo. P. Beaumont

103

11 March 1905

Robert Henry Nelson Stewart
Maud Johnstone Huskisson

Robert Henry Nelson Stewart
Maud Johnstone Huskisson
💍 1905/6308

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman

24 years
25 years

Caversham
Caversham

1 month
12 years

In the house of Mr. J. Huskisson, Percy Terrace, Caversham

05/1362

11 March 1905

Robt. Mackie

No	103
Date of Notice	11 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Henry Nelson Stewart	Maud Johnstone Huskisson
	💍 1905/6308
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman
Age	24 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Caversham
Length of Residence	1 month	12 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. J. Huskisson, Percy Terrace, Caversham
Folio	05/1362
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Robt. Mackie

104

13 March 1905

Henry Batey Emmerson
Ada May Wynn

Henry Batey Emmerson
Ada May Wynn
💍 1905/6330

Bachelor
Spinster

Trainer

27 years
17 years

Dunedin
36 St. Andrew Street, Dunedin

8 years
14 years

In the house of Mr. J. Wynn, 36 St. Andrew Street, Dunedin

05/1389

Alfred Joseph Wynn, Father

13 March 1905

W. A. Sinclair

No	104
Date of Notice	13 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Batey Emmerson	Ada May Wynn
	💍 1905/6330
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Trainer
Age	27 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	36 St. Andrew Street, Dunedin
Length of Residence	8 years	14 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. J. Wynn, 36 St. Andrew Street, Dunedin
Folio	05/1389
Consent	Alfred Joseph Wynn, Father
Date of Certificate	13 March 1905
Officiating Minister	W. A. Sinclair

105

14 March 1905

Henry McAuley Johnson
Sarah Jane Johnson

Henry McAuley
Sarah Jane Johnson
💍 1905/5034

Widower
Spinster

Miner

50 years
34 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriage, Dunedin

05/1313

14 March 1905

H. Maxwell

No	105
Date of Notice	14 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry McAuley Johnson	Sarah Jane Johnson
BDM Match (81%)	Henry McAuley	Sarah Jane Johnson
	💍 1905/5034
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	50 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriage, Dunedin
Folio	05/1313
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1905
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

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).