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 608

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 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

144

6 December 1905

Peter Walker
Christina Ann Buchanan

Peter Walker
Christina Ann Buchanan
💍 1905/4402

Bachelor
Spinster

Architect

36
24

Leet Street Invercargill
Wrights Bush Invercargill

12 years
24 years

Residence of Rev G. Lindsay, Kelvin Street Invercargill

05/6962

6 December 1905

Rev Geo. Lindsay

No	144
Date of Notice	6 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Walker	Christina Ann Buchanan
	💍 1905/4402
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Architect
Age	36	24
Dwelling Place	Leet Street Invercargill	Wrights Bush Invercargill
Length of Residence	12 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev G. Lindsay, Kelvin Street Invercargill
Folio	05/6962
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo. Lindsay

145

8 December 1905

Frederick William James
Bessie Ann Mann

Frederick William James
Bessie Ann Mann
💍 1905/4404

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

25
22

Ryal Bush Invercargill
Avenal Invercargill

24 years
9 years

Residence of Geo. Lindsay, Kelvin Street Invercargill

05/6963

8 December 1905

Rev G. Lindsay

No	145
Date of Notice	8 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William James	Bessie Ann Mann
	💍 1905/4404
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Ryal Bush Invercargill	Avenal Invercargill
Length of Residence	24 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Geo. Lindsay, Kelvin Street Invercargill
Folio	05/6963
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev G. Lindsay

146

9 December 1905

Thomas Peterson
Catherine Somerville Young

Thomas Peterson
Catherine Somerville Young
💍 1905/4454

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

27
23

Teirot Street Invercargill
Grace Street South Invercargill

10 days
23 years

Primitive Methodist Church Elles Road South Invercargill

05/6989

9 December 1905

Rev. J. A. Pybus

No	146
Date of Notice	9 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Peterson	Catherine Somerville Young
	💍 1905/4454
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Teirot Street Invercargill	Grace Street South Invercargill
Length of Residence	10 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church Elles Road South Invercargill
Folio	05/6989
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Pybus

147

14 December 1905

James Frederick Ferguson
Elizabeth Fife Smith

James Frederick Ferguson
Elizabeth Fyfe Smith
💍 1905/4407

Bachelor
Spinster

Brickmaker
Domestic

25
26

Makarewa Invercargill
Makarewa Invercargill

8 months
10 years

Presbyterian Church Makarewa Invercargill

05/6967

14 December 1905

Rev. J. Cumming

No	147
Date of Notice	14 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Frederick Ferguson	Elizabeth Fife Smith
BDM Match (98%)	James Frederick Ferguson	Elizabeth Fyfe Smith
	💍 1905/4407
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brickmaker	Domestic
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Makarewa Invercargill	Makarewa Invercargill
Length of Residence	8 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Makarewa Invercargill
Folio	05/6967
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cumming

148

14 December 1905

Arthur Thomas Batger
Margaret Janet Isabella Rosetta Coupland

Arthur Thomas Batger
Margaret Janet Isabella Rosetta Coupland
💍 1905/408

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

35
30

Morton Mains Invercargill
Clyde Street Invercargill

6 years
30 years

Residence of Robert Coupland, Clyde Street Invercargill

05/6964

14 December 1905

Rev. G. Lindsay

No	148
Date of Notice	14 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Thomas Batger	Margaret Janet Isabella Rosetta Coupland
	💍 1905/408
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	35	30
Dwelling Place	Morton Mains Invercargill	Clyde Street Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Robert Coupland, Clyde Street Invercargill
Folio	05/6964
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Lindsay

149

15 December 1905

John Littlejohn Nicol
Rose Sophia Stewart

No corresponding marriage registration located

Bachelor
Spinster

Optician
Photographer's assistant

24
25

Tay Street Invercargill
Bowmont Street Invercargill

24 years
9 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages Invercargill

Not solemnized

15 December 1905

Registrar of Marriages Invercargill

No	149
Date of Notice	15 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Littlejohn Nicol	Rose Sophia Stewart
	💍 No corresponding marriage registration located
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Optician	Photographer's assistant
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Tay Street Invercargill	Bowmont Street Invercargill
Length of Residence	24 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Invercargill
Folio	Not solemnized
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Invercargill

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).