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 724

District of Palmerston Quarter ending 30 September 1905 Registrar B. G. Sean

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

7 July 1905

Simon Robert Sutherland
Annie Maud Hardy

Simon Robert Sutherland
Annie Maude Hardy
💍 1905/2646

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic duties

26
24

Palmerston
Palmerston

26 years
11 years

Private residence of Mrs. A. Hardy

05/5060

7 July 1905

Rev. James Clarke

No	8
Date of Notice	7 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Simon Robert Sutherland	Annie Maud Hardy
BDM Match (97%)	Simon Robert Sutherland	Annie Maude Hardy
	💍 1905/2646
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic duties
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Palmerston	Palmerston
Length of Residence	26 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mrs. A. Hardy
Folio	05/5060
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Clarke

11 July 1905

James Alfred Duncan
Violetina Guynne

James Alfred Duncan
Violet Ina Gwynne
💍 1905/2645

Bachelor
Spinster

Publican
Domestic duties

24
22

Oamaru
Palmerston

6 weeks
22 years

Church of England, Palmerston

05/5059

11 July 1905

Rev. H. B. Jones

No	9
Date of Notice	11 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alfred Duncan	Violetina Guynne
BDM Match (91%)	James Alfred Duncan	Violet Ina Gwynne
	💍 1905/2645
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Publican	Domestic duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Palmerston
Length of Residence	6 weeks	22 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Palmerston
Folio	05/5059
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Jones

15 July 1905

William Sam Wakelin
Mary Ann Lea Brennan

William Sam Wakelin
Mary Ann Lea Brennan
💍 1905/2647

Bachelor
Spinster

Miller
Domestic duties

33
19

Shag Valley
Shag Valley

6 months
6 months

Private residence of Mr. P. Brennan

05/5061

Philip Brennan, father

15 July 1905

Rev. James Clarke

No	10
Date of Notice	15 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Sam Wakelin	Mary Ann Lea Brennan
	💍 1905/2647
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miller	Domestic duties
Age	33	19
Dwelling Place	Shag Valley	Shag Valley
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mr. P. Brennan
Folio	05/5061
Consent	Philip Brennan, father
Date of Certificate	15 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Clarke

2 August 1905

John Henry Thomas
Eva Mary Salziel

John Henry Thomas
Eva Mary Dalziel
💍 1905/2806

John Henry Thomas
Mabel Campbell
💍 1905/6378

Bachelor
Spinster

Lighthouse Keeper
Domestic duties

27
24

Port Molyneux
Shag Valley

16 months
24 years

At private residence of Mrs. Salziel

05/5270

2 August 1905

Rev. James Richard Clarke

No	11
Date of Notice	2 August 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Thomas	Eva Mary Salziel
BDM Match (97%)	John Henry Thomas	Eva Mary Dalziel
	💍 1905/2806
BDM Match (63%)	John Henry Thomas	Mabel Campbell
	💍 1905/6378
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lighthouse Keeper	Domestic duties
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Port Molyneux	Shag Valley
Length of Residence	16 months	24 years
Marriage Place	At private residence of Mrs. Salziel
Folio	05/5270
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Richard Clarke

27 September 1905

John Lackey
Emily Meredith

John Lackey
Emily Meredith
💍 1905/2648

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

24
21

Allandale, Shag Point
Allandale, Shag Point

4 months
3 days

Presbyterian Manse, Palmerston

05/5062

Rev. James Clarke

No	12
Date of Notice	27 September 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lackey	Emily Meredith
	💍 1905/2648
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Allandale, Shag Point	Allandale, Shag Point
Length of Residence	4 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Palmerston
Folio	05/5062
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. James 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).