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 610

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 1905 Registrar J. Y. Peter

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

150

18 December 1905

Douglas Grindlay
Margaret Checketts

Douglas Grundley
Margaret Chicketts
💍 1905/4447

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic

27
19

Crinan Street, Invercargill
Eye Street, Invercargill

4 years
19 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Don Street, Invercargill

05/6983

Stella Checketts, Mother

18 December 1905

Rev. R. Raine

No	150
Date of Notice	18 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Grindlay	Margaret Checketts
BDM Match (91%)	Douglas Grundley	Margaret Chicketts
	💍 1905/4447
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Crinan Street, Invercargill	Eye Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Don Street, Invercargill
Folio	05/6983
Consent	Stella Checketts, Mother
Date of Certificate	18 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Raine

151

19 December 1905

Thomas Rose
Isabella Hamilton

Thomas Rose
Isabella Hamilton
💍 1905/4448

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

21
21

Leet Street, Invercargill
Twist Street, Invercargill

3 months
3 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Don Street, Invercargill

05/6984

19 December 1905

Rev. R. Raine

No	151
Date of Notice	19 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Rose	Isabella Hamilton
	💍 1905/4448
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Leet Street, Invercargill	Twist Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Don Street, Invercargill
Folio	05/6984
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Raine

152

19 December 1905

James William McNatty
Agnes Ferguson Caldwell Rattray

James William McNatty
Agnes Ferguson Caldwell Ruttray
💍 1905/4393

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Tailoress

29
28

East Road, Invercargill
Elles Road South, Invercargill

29 years
26 years

Residence of John Rattray, Elles Road South, Invercargill

05/6953

19 December 1905

Rev. R. Ferguson

No	152
Date of Notice	19 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William McNatty	Agnes Ferguson Caldwell Rattray
BDM Match (98%)	James William McNatty	Agnes Ferguson Caldwell Ruttray
	💍 1905/4393
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Tailoress
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	East Road, Invercargill	Elles Road South, Invercargill
Length of Residence	29 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Rattray, Elles Road South, Invercargill
Folio	05/6953
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Ferguson

153

19 December 1905

Roderick McKenzie
Selenia Emily Copeland

Roderick McKenzie
Selenia Emily Copeland
💍 1905/4416

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic

26
26

Mary Street East, Invercargill
Mary Street East, Invercargill

26 years
9 years

Residence of Duncan McKenzie, Mary Street East, Invercargill

05/6952

19 December 1905

Rev. R. Ferguson

No	153
Date of Notice	19 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roderick McKenzie	Selenia Emily Copeland
	💍 1905/4416
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Mary Street East, Invercargill	Mary Street East, Invercargill
Length of Residence	26 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Duncan McKenzie, Mary Street East, Invercargill
Folio	05/6952
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Ferguson

154

19 December 1905

William James Macgregor
Evelyn Stanway

William James Macgregor
Evelyn Stanway
💍 1905/4455

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Domestic

19
17

Mary Street East, Invercargill
Earn Street, Invercargill

19 years
19 years

Residence of William Stanway, Earn Street, Invercargill

05/6990

William Stanway, Father; Alexander Macgregor, Father

19 December 1905

Rev. J. A. Pybus

No	154
Date of Notice	19 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Macgregor	Evelyn Stanway
	💍 1905/4455
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Domestic
Age	19	17
Dwelling Place	Mary Street East, Invercargill	Earn Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	19 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Stanway, Earn Street, Invercargill
Folio	05/6990
Consent	William Stanway, Father; Alexander Macgregor, Father
Date of Certificate	19 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Pybus

155

20 December 1905

Edward Christopher Isitt
Henrietta Bennett

Edward Christopher Isitt
Henrietta Bennett
💍 1905/4410

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

26
18

West Plains, Invercargill
Gladstone, Invercargill

26 years
18 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

05/6946

Lucy Haberfield, Mother

20 December 1905

Registrar of Marriages

No	155
Date of Notice	20 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Christopher Isitt	Henrietta Bennett
	💍 1905/4410
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	West Plains, Invercargill	Gladstone, Invercargill
Length of Residence	26 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	05/6946
Consent	Lucy Haberfield, Mother
Date of Certificate	20 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

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).