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 722

District of PALMERSTON Quarter ending 30 June 1905 Registrar B. G. Lean

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

17 April 1905

Frank Campbell
Mary Matteson

Frank Campbell
Mary Matheson
💍 1905/1079

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

25
21 years 11 months

Dunback
Morrison's Creek

25 years
21 years

Private residence of Robert Matteson, Shag Creek, Morrison's

05/3487

17 April 1905

Rev. Jas. Clarke

No	3
Date of Notice	17 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Campbell	Mary Matteson
BDM Match (96%)	Frank Campbell	Mary Matheson
	💍 1905/1079
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	25	21 years 11 months
Dwelling Place	Dunback	Morrison's Creek
Length of Residence	25 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of Robert Matteson, Shag Creek, Morrison's
Folio	05/3487
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Clarke

29 April 1905

Edward Thomas Henry
Elizabeth Roulston

Edward Thomas Henry
Elizabeth Roulston
💍 1905/1087

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Cook

22 years
24 years

Palmerston
Palmerston

3 years
24 years

Registrar's Office, Palmerston

05/3488

29 April 1905

B. G. Lean (Registrar)

No	4
Date of Notice	29 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Thomas Henry	Elizabeth Roulston
	💍 1905/1087
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Cook
Age	22 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston	Palmerston
Length of Residence	3 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Palmerston
Folio	05/3488
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1905
Officiating Minister	B. G. Lean (Registrar)

15 May 1905

Joseph White
Anna Robertson

Joseph White
Ann Robertson
💍 1905/1098

Joseph Cotter
Mary Robertson
💍 1905/3291

Bachelor
Spinster

Shunter, Railway Department
Household duties

28 years
26 years

Palmerston
Palmerston

14 days
26 years

At the residence of Wm. Robertson

05/3489

15 May 1905

Rev. Jas. Clarke

No	5
Date of Notice	15 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph White	Anna Robertson
BDM Match (96%)	Joseph White	Ann Robertson
	💍 1905/1098
BDM Match (70%)	Joseph Cotter	Mary Robertson
	💍 1905/3291
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shunter, Railway Department	Household duties
Age	28 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston	Palmerston
Length of Residence	14 days	26 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Wm. Robertson
Folio	05/3489
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Clarke

19 June 1905

William Henry Brown
Mary Ann Foster

William Henry Brown
Mary Ann Foster
💍 1905/1106

William Pirie
Jane Ann Foster
💍 1906/1842

James Glasgow
Mary Ann Foster
💍 1905/7005

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

29 years
28 years

Goodwood
Palmerston

29 years
3 years

At the residence of John Brown, Goodwood

05/3491

19 June 1905

Rev. Jas. Lynch

No	6
Date of Notice	19 June 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Brown	Mary Ann Foster
	💍 1905/1106
BDM Match (64%)	William Pirie	Jane Ann Foster
	💍 1906/1842
BDM Match (61%)	James Glasgow	Mary Ann Foster
	💍 1905/7005
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	29 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Goodwood	Palmerston
Length of Residence	29 years	3 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of John Brown, Goodwood
Folio	05/3491
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 June 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Lynch

23 June 1905

James Joseph Orbell
Isabella Anderson

James Joseph Orbell
Isabella Anderson
💍 1905/1105

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

30 years
30 years

Makotuku
Palmerston

1 year 3 months
30 years

The Presbyterian Manse, Palmerston

05/3490

23 June 1905

Rev. Jas. Clarke

No	7
Date of Notice	23 June 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Joseph Orbell	Isabella Anderson
	💍 1905/1105
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	30 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Makotuku	Palmerston
Length of Residence	1 year 3 months	30 years
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Manse, Palmerston
Folio	05/3490
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 June 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Clarke

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).