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 606

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

130

6 November 1905

James Lewin
Mary Hope Dryburgh

James Lewin Wilson
Mary Hope Dryburgh
💍 1905/4415

Bachelor
Spinster

Shipping Clerk
Domestic

32 years
24 years

McMaster Street East Invercargill
Mary Street East Invercargill

5 years
24 years

Residence of G. Dryburgh, Mary Street

05/6957

6 November 1905

Rev. R. Ferguson

No	130
Date of Notice	6 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Lewin	Mary Hope Dryburgh
BDM Match (81%)	James Lewin Wilson	Mary Hope Dryburgh
	💍 1905/4415
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shipping Clerk	Domestic
Age	32 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	McMaster Street East Invercargill	Mary Street East Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of G. Dryburgh, Mary Street
Folio	05/6957
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Ferguson

131

6 November 1905

Henry William Port
Agnes More

Henry William Port
Agnes More
💍 1905/4392

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

24 years
26 years

Georgetown South Invercargill
Georgetown South Invercargill

3 days
6 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages Invercargill

05/6944

6 November 1905

J. G. Petrie, Registrar

No	131
Date of Notice	6 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry William Port	Agnes More
	💍 1905/4392
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	24 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Georgetown South Invercargill	Georgetown South Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Invercargill
Folio	05/6944
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1905
Officiating Minister	J. G. Petrie, Registrar

132

11 November 1905

Fredrick Thomas Blick
Mary Metcalfe

Frederick Thomas Blick
Mary Metcalfe
💍 1905/4446

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Saleswoman

19 years
23 years

Ythan Street Invercargill
Tiviot Street Invercargill

2 years
23 years

Residence of Rev. R. Raine

05/6982

Sarah Blick, Mother

11 November 1905

Rev. R. Raine

No	132
Date of Notice	11 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fredrick Thomas Blick	Mary Metcalfe
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Thomas Blick	Mary Metcalfe
	💍 1905/4446
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Saleswoman
Age	19 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Ythan Street Invercargill	Tiviot Street Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. R. Raine
Folio	05/6982
Consent	Sarah Blick, Mother
Date of Certificate	11 November 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Raine

133

13 November 1905

Daniel Weir
Elizabeth Kyneston

Daniel Weir
Elizabeth Kyneston
💍 1905/4403

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic

21 years
21 years

Spey Street Invercargill
Spey Street Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages Invercargill

05/6945

13 November 1905

J. G. Petrie, Registrar

No	133
Date of Notice	13 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Weir	Elizabeth Kyneston
	💍 1905/4403
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic
Age	21 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Spey Street Invercargill	Spey Street Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Invercargill
Folio	05/6945
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 November 1905
Officiating Minister	J. G. Petrie, Registrar

134

15 November 1905

Patrick Joseph Joyce
Susannah Gertrude Maloney

Patrick Joseph Joyce
Susannah Gertrude Moloney
💍 1905/4464

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

32 years
27 years

West Plains Invercargill
West Plains Invercargill

3 days
27 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street Invercargill

05/6976

15 November 1905

Very Rev. Dean Burke

No	134
Date of Notice	15 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Joseph Joyce	Susannah Gertrude Maloney
BDM Match (98%)	Patrick Joseph Joyce	Susannah Gertrude Moloney
	💍 1905/4464
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	32 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	West Plains Invercargill	West Plains Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street Invercargill
Folio	05/6976
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 November 1905
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Burke

135

14 November 1905

Leslie Lindsay Murphy
Catherine Wills

Leslie Lindsay Murphy
Catherine Wills
💍 1905/4466

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Clerk

37 years
29 years

Yarrow Street Invercargill
Ettrick Street Invercargill

30 years
20 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street Invercargill

05/6978

14 November 1905

Very Rev. Dean Burke

No	135
Date of Notice	14 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Lindsay Murphy	Catherine Wills
	💍 1905/4466
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Clerk
Age	37 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Yarrow Street Invercargill	Ettrick Street Invercargill
Length of Residence	30 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street Invercargill
Folio	05/6978
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 November 1905
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Burke

136

14 November 1905

John Wills
Mary McBarthy

John Wills
Mary McCarthy
💍 1905/4465

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

30 years
21 years

Waikivi Invercargill
Port Invercargill

28 years
3 days

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street Invercargill

05/6977

14 November 1905

Very Rev. Dean Burke

No	136
Date of Notice	14 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wills	Mary McBarthy
BDM Match (96%)	John Wills	Mary McCarthy
	💍 1905/4465
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	30 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Waikivi Invercargill	Port Invercargill
Length of Residence	28 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street Invercargill
Folio	05/6977
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 November 1905
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Burke

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).