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 736

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 31 March 1905

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

11 January 1905

John Bain Jack
Alice May Hunter

John Bain Jack
Alice May Hunter
💍 1905/478

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant
Domestic Duties

26
26

Sawyers Bay
Sawyers Bay

12 days
17 years

House of Mr Hunter, Sawyers Bay

05/1498

11 January 1905

Rev. Isaac Kirker, McIntyre

No	1
Date of Notice	11 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bain Jack	Alice May Hunter
	💍 1905/478
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	Domestic Duties
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Sawyers Bay	Sawyers Bay
Length of Residence	12 days	17 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr Hunter, Sawyers Bay
Folio	05/1498
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Isaac Kirker, McIntyre

26 January 1905

Thomas Uriah Cooper
Catherine Hamilton Steel Crawford

Thomas Urich Cooper
Catherine Hamilton Steel Crawford
💍 1905/480

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Domestic Duties

30
28

Sawyers Bay
Sawyers Bay

3 days
20 years

Presbyterian Church

05/1499

26 January 1905

Rev. Edward Cooper, Tennent

No	2
Date of Notice	26 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Uriah Cooper	Catherine Hamilton Steel Crawford
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Urich Cooper	Catherine Hamilton Steel Crawford
	💍 1905/480
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic Duties
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Sawyers Bay	Sawyers Bay
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	05/1499
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edward Cooper, Tennent

1 March 1905

Alexander Edward Gosden
Cecilia Clementson Wilson

Alexander Edward Gosden
Cecilia Clementson
💍 1905/483

Bachelor
Widow

Marine Fireman
Domestic Duties

32
39

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

3 days
about 5 years

Church of England

05/1502

1 March 1905

Rev. Thomas Wilson, Kewley

No	3
Date of Notice	1 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Edward Gosden	Cecilia Clementson Wilson
BDM Match (86%)	Alexander Edward Gosden	Cecilia Clementson
	💍 1905/483
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Marine Fireman	Domestic Duties
Age	32	39
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	3 days	about 5 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	05/1502
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Wilson, Kewley

8 March 1905

William Elston Bolton
Hannah Middleton Bolton

William Elston
Hannah Middleton
💍 1905/481

Bachelor
Widow

Butcher
Domestic Duties

57
52

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

3 days
40 years

House of Mr James Bolton, Sawyers Bay

05/1500

8 March 1905

Rev. Edward Taylor

No	4
Date of Notice	8 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Elston Bolton	Hannah Middleton Bolton
BDM Match (68%)	William Elston	Hannah Middleton
	💍 1905/481
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Duties
Age	57	52
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	3 days	40 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr James Bolton, Sawyers Bay
Folio	05/1500
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edward Taylor

30 March 1905

David Gault
Agnes Thomas Huxtable

David Gault
Agnes Thomson Huxtable
💍 1905/482

Bachelor
Spinster

Surgeon
Domestic

Full age
Full age

Waiheke
Port Chalmers

2 years
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Port Chalmers

05/1501

30 March 1905

Rev. Edward Cooper, Tennent

No	5
Date of Notice	30 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Gault	Agnes Thomas Huxtable
BDM Match (93%)	David Gault	Agnes Thomson Huxtable
	💍 1905/482
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surgeon	Domestic
Age	Full age	Full age
Dwelling Place	Waiheke	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Port Chalmers
Folio	05/1501
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edward Cooper, Tennent

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).