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 520

District of East Taieri Quarter ending 31 March 1905 Registrar Gilbert Burness Burns

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

9 January 1905

Andrew Stevenson
Helen Millar Blackie

Andrew Stevenson
Helen Millar Blackie
💍 1905/1182

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

39
29

East Taieri, Otago
East Taieri, Otago

39 years
29 years

House of Walter Blackie, East Taieri, Otago

05/3593

9 January 1905

Rev. A. W. Kimmont, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	9 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Stevenson	Helen Millar Blackie
	💍 1905/1182
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	39	29
Dwelling Place	East Taieri, Otago	East Taieri, Otago
Length of Residence	39 years	29 years
Marriage Place	House of Walter Blackie, East Taieri, Otago
Folio	05/3593
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. Kimmont, Presbyterian

17 January 1905

Henry Brown
Margaret Taylor

Henry Brown
Margaret Taylor
💍 1905/5071

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Servant

25
26

North Taieri, Otago
North Taieri, Otago

3 Days
14 Days

House of William Taylor, North Taieri, Otago

05/1418

17 January 1905

Rev. L. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	17 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Brown	Margaret Taylor
	💍 1905/5071
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Servant
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	North Taieri, Otago	North Taieri, Otago
Length of Residence	3 Days	14 Days
Marriage Place	House of William Taylor, North Taieri, Otago
Folio	05/1418
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. Thompson, Presbyterian

21 January 1905

William Stevenson
Margaret Ogilvie Christie

William Stevenson
Margaret Ogilvie Christie
💍 1905/1183

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep station manager

30
30

East Taieri, Otago
Saddle Hill, Otago

30 years
30 years

Presbyterian Church, East Taieri, Otago

05/3594

21 January 1905

Rev. A. W. Kimmont, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	21 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stevenson	Margaret Ogilvie Christie
	💍 1905/1183
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep station manager
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	East Taieri, Otago	Saddle Hill, Otago
Length of Residence	30 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, East Taieri, Otago
Folio	05/3594
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. Kimmont, Presbyterian

9 February 1905

John Drummond Fraser
Janet Henry Kidd Miller

John Cramond Fraser
Janet Henry Kidd Miller
💍 1905/1790

Bachelor
Spinster

Boiler maker

25
26

Riccarton, East Taieri, Otago
Saddle Hill, Otago

25 years
26 years

House of George Kidd Miller, Saddle Hill, Otago

05/3385

9 February 1905

J. Mc Innes, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	9 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Drummond Fraser	Janet Henry Kidd Miller
BDM Match (93%)	John Cramond Fraser	Janet Henry Kidd Miller
	💍 1905/1790
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boiler maker
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Riccarton, East Taieri, Otago	Saddle Hill, Otago
Length of Residence	25 years	26 years
Marriage Place	House of George Kidd Miller, Saddle Hill, Otago
Folio	05/3385
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1905
Officiating Minister	J. Mc Innes, Presbyterian

1 February 1905

Andrew Hugh Tweed
Mary Gibson

Andrew Hugh Tweed
Mary Gibson
💍 1905/5082

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

39
30

Wyllies Crossing, Otago
North Taieri, Otago

7 years
20 years

House of Hugh Gibson, North Taieri, Otago

05/1419

1 February 1905

Rev. L. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	1 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Hugh Tweed	Mary Gibson
	💍 1905/5082
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	39	30
Dwelling Place	Wyllies Crossing, Otago	North Taieri, Otago
Length of Residence	7 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Hugh Gibson, North Taieri, Otago
Folio	05/1419
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. Thompson, Presbyterian

10 March 1905

Henry Anderson
Jessie Wright

Henry Anderson
Jessie E Wright
💍 1905/1789

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

33
30

East Taieri, Otago
East Taieri, Otago

3 Days
25 years

House of Susan Wright, East Taieri, Otago

05/3384

10 March 1905

Rev. J. M. McKerrow, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	10 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Anderson	Jessie Wright
BDM Match (93%)	Henry Anderson	Jessie E Wright
	💍 1905/1789
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	East Taieri, Otago	East Taieri, Otago
Length of Residence	3 Days	25 years
Marriage Place	House of Susan Wright, East Taieri, Otago
Folio	05/3384
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. McKerrow, Presbyterian

18 March 1905

Albert Edward Walden
Annie Anderson

Albert Edward Walden
Annie Anderson
💍 1905/6414

Albert Edward Simpkin
Mabel Anderson
💍 1905/847

Henry Woodill
Annie Anderson
💍 1905/7130

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachman

24
23

Fairfield, Otago
Fairfield, Otago

3 Days
23 years

House of John Anderson, Fairfield, Otago

05/1609

18 March 1905

Rev. J. Kilpatrick, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	18 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Walden	Annie Anderson
	💍 1905/6414
BDM Match (68%)	Albert Edward Simpkin	Mabel Anderson
	💍 1905/847
BDM Match (60%)	Henry Woodill	Annie Anderson
	💍 1905/7130
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachman
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Fairfield, Otago	Fairfield, Otago
Length of Residence	3 Days	23 years
Marriage Place	House of John Anderson, Fairfield, Otago
Folio	05/1609
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Kilpatrick, Presbyterian

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).