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 848

District of Wyndham Quarter ending 31 December 1905 Registrar Smille

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

24 October 1905

William Simpleton
Leslie Beauge

William Templeton
Lettie Beauge
💍 1905/4561

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
None

36
31

Wyndham
Wyndham

2 years Residence of Mr A. Beauge
31 years Wyndham

05/7082

24 October 1905

Rev. A. Sangster

No	25
Date of Notice	24 October 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Simpleton	Leslie Beauge
BDM Match (86%)	William Templeton	Lettie Beauge
	💍 1905/4561
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	None
Age	36	31
Dwelling Place	Wyndham	Wyndham
Length of Residence	2 years Residence of Mr A. Beauge	31 years Wyndham
Marriage Place
Folio	05/7082
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Sangster

30 October 1905

Joseph Shaw
Patience Newcombe Allan

Joseph Shaw
Patience Newcombe Allan
💍 1905/4562

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
None

25
21

Dunedin
Wyndham

9 months Residence of Allan & Shaw, Dunedin
21 years Wyndham

05/7083

30 October 1905

Rev. A. Sangster

No	27
Date of Notice	30 October 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Shaw	Patience Newcombe Allan
	💍 1905/4562
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	None
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Wyndham
Length of Residence	9 months Residence of Allan & Shaw, Dunedin	21 years Wyndham
Marriage Place
Folio	05/7083
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Sangster

25 November 1905

Robert Dobbie
Helen Duncan

Robert Dobbie
Helen Duncan
💍 1905/4563

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
None

29
26

Seaward Downs
Menzies Ferry

12 years Residence of Robert Duncan, Menzies Ferry
5 years Menzies Ferry

05/7084

25 November 1905

Rev. A. Sangster

No	28
Date of Notice	25 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Dobbie	Helen Duncan
	💍 1905/4563
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	None
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Seaward Downs	Menzies Ferry
Length of Residence	12 years Residence of Robert Duncan, Menzies Ferry	5 years Menzies Ferry
Marriage Place
Folio	05/7084
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 November 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Sangster

24 December 1905

Francis Christopher Delany
Jane Traynor

Francis Christopher Welanly
Jane Traynor
💍 1905/4564

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
None

30
23

Lyttelton
Wyndham

9 months Roman Catholic Chapel, Wyndham
3 months Wyndham

Roman Catholic Chapel, Wyndham

05/7085

24 December 1905

Rev. J. P. Delany

No	29
Date of Notice	24 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Christopher Delany	Jane Traynor
BDM Match (96%)	Francis Christopher Welanly	Jane Traynor
	💍 1905/4564
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	None
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Wyndham
Length of Residence	9 months Roman Catholic Chapel, Wyndham	3 months Wyndham
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel, Wyndham
Folio	05/7085
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Delany

27 December 1905

John Abbott
Margaret Robertson Muir

John Abbott
Margaret Robertson Muir
💍 1905/4565

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
None

31
30

Dunedin
Dunedin

31 years Residence of Mrs. Jessie Muir, Dunedin
20 years Dunedin

05/7086

27 December 1905

Rev. Q. Raine

No	30
Date of Notice	27 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Abbott	Margaret Robertson Muir
	💍 1905/4565
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	None
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	31 years Residence of Mrs. Jessie Muir, Dunedin	20 years Dunedin
Marriage Place
Folio	05/7086
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Q. Raine

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).