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 602

District of INVERCARGILL Quarter ending 31 December 1905 Registrar J. E. Taylor

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

111

9 October 1905

Charles Harding
Christina Emily Harpur

Charles Harding
Christina Emily Harpur
💍 1905/4351

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Domestic

32
26

Clifton INVERCARGILL
Clifton INVERCARGILL

6 months
5 years

Office of the Deputy Registrar of Marriages INVERCARGILL

05/6943

9 October 1905

J. E. Taylor Deputy Registrar

No	111
Date of Notice	9 October 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Harding	Christina Emily Harpur
	💍 1905/4351
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Domestic
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Clifton INVERCARGILL	Clifton INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	6 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Deputy Registrar of Marriages INVERCARGILL
Folio	05/6943
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1905
Officiating Minister	J. E. Taylor Deputy Registrar

112

9 October 1905

Archibald McCallum
Elizabeth Bert Buchanan

Archibald McCallum
Elizabeth Bert Buchanan
💍 1905/4408

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

19
17

George Road INVERCARGILL
George Road INVERCARGILL

19 years
5 years

Residence of Wm Buchanan George Rd. INVERCARGILL

05/6968

James McCallum Father, Wm Buchanan Father

9 October 1905

Rev J. Carter

No	112
Date of Notice	9 October 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald McCallum	Elizabeth Bert Buchanan
	💍 1905/4408
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	19	17
Dwelling Place	George Road INVERCARGILL	George Road INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	19 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Wm Buchanan George Rd. INVERCARGILL
Folio	05/6968
Consent	James McCallum Father, Wm Buchanan Father
Date of Certificate	9 October 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Carter

113

9 October 1905

Thomas Donaldson
Margaret O'Brien

Thomas Donaldson
Margaret OBrien
💍 1905/4442

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Domestic

32
29

Ritchie St. East INVERCARGILL
Catherine St. North INVERCARGILL

26 years
29 years

Roman Catholic Church Tyne St. INVERCARGILL

05/6970

9 October 1905

Very Rev. Dean Burke

No	113
Date of Notice	9 October 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Donaldson	Margaret O'Brien
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Donaldson	Margaret OBrien
	💍 1905/4442
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Ritchie St. East INVERCARGILL	Catherine St. North INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	26 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Tyne St. INVERCARGILL
Folio	05/6970
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1905
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Burke

114

13 October 1905

Charles Dickens Carlyle Osborne
Emma Wilson

Charles Dickens Carlyle Osborne
Emma Wilson
💍 1905/4396

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

28
26

East Rd INVERCARGILL
East Rd INVERCARGILL

2 years
3 days

St. Paul's Presbyterian Manse Kelvin St. INVERCARGILL

05/6956

13 October 1905

Rev. Geo Lindsay

No	114
Date of Notice	13 October 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Dickens Carlyle Osborne	Emma Wilson
	💍 1905/4396
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	East Rd INVERCARGILL	East Rd INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Manse Kelvin St. INVERCARGILL
Folio	05/6956
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo Lindsay

115

13 October 1905

Thomas Shields
Johanna Kaveney

Thomas Shields
Johanna Kavaney
💍 1905/4453

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

36
18

INVERCARGILL
INVERCARGILL

3 days
18 years

Roman Catholic Church Presbytery Eye St. INVERCARGILL

05/6971

Bartholomew Kaveney Father

13 October 1905

Very Rev. Dean Burke

No	115
Date of Notice	13 October 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Shields	Johanna Kaveney
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Shields	Johanna Kavaney
	💍 1905/4453
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	36	18
Dwelling Place	INVERCARGILL	INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 days	18 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Presbytery Eye St. INVERCARGILL
Folio	05/6971
Consent	Bartholomew Kaveney Father
Date of Certificate	13 October 1905
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Burke

116

14 October 1905

Felix Butler
Elsie Woodward Lee

Felix Butter
Elsie Woodward Lee
💍 1905/4413

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

24
21

Dee St. INVERCARGILL
Dee St INVERCARGILL

3 days
3 days

First Presbyterian Church Tay St. INVERCARGILL

05/6949

14 October 1905

Rev R. Ferguson

No	116
Date of Notice	14 October 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Felix Butler	Elsie Woodward Lee
BDM Match (96%)	Felix Butter	Elsie Woodward Lee
	💍 1905/4413
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Dee St. INVERCARGILL	Dee St INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	First Presbyterian Church Tay St. INVERCARGILL
Folio	05/6949
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev R. Ferguson

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).