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 484

District of Dunedin 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

510

7 November 1905

Robert Donaldson
Kate Davis

Robert Donaldson
Kate Davis
💍 1905/4289

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

26 years
23 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 days
30 days

In the house of Rev. Wm. Laycock, 55 Dundas Street, Dunedin

05/76880

7 November 1905

Wm. Laycock

No	510
Date of Notice	7 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Donaldson	Kate Davis
	💍 1905/4289
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	26 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 days	30 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Rev. Wm. Laycock, 55 Dundas Street, Dunedin
Folio	05/76880
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1905
Officiating Minister	Wm. Laycock

511

8 November 1905

Alexander Beath
Margaret Arnott Taylor

Alexander Beath
Margaret Arnott Taylor
💍 1905/4238

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Tailoress

31 years
30 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
30 years

In the house of Mr. J. Gibson, 65 Duncan Street, Dunedin

05/76805

8 November 1905

D. McLennan

No	511
Date of Notice	8 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Beath	Margaret Arnott Taylor
	💍 1905/4238
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Tailoress
Age	31 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. J. Gibson, 65 Duncan Street, Dunedin
Folio	05/76805
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1905
Officiating Minister	D. McLennan

512

8 November 1905

William Strang
Helen Strang

William Strang
Helen Strang
💍 1905/4239

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

37 years
37 years

Dunedin
Caversham

3 days
27 years

In the house of Mr. B. L. Strang, Grosvenor Street, Caversham

05/76806

8 November 1905

D. McLennan

No	512
Date of Notice	8 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Strang	Helen Strang
	💍 1905/4239
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	37 years	37 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Caversham
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. B. L. Strang, Grosvenor Street, Caversham
Folio	05/76806
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1905
Officiating Minister	D. McLennan

513

8 November 1905

Ernest Alfred Hjorring
Elizabeth Coster

Ernest Alfred Hjorring
Elizabeth Coster
💍 1905/4250

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

33 years
31 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

12 months
8 years

In the house of Mr. E. Coster, 69 Eden Street, Dunedin

05/76850

8 November 1905

J. O'Malley

No	513
Date of Notice	8 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Alfred Hjorring	Elizabeth Coster
	💍 1905/4250
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	33 years	31 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	12 months	8 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. E. Coster, 69 Eden Street, Dunedin
Folio	05/76850
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1905
Officiating Minister	J. O'Malley

514

10 November 1905

Edward Lawrie
Edith Gertrude Tucker

Edward Laurie
Edith Gertrude Tucker
💍 1905/4247

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

25 years
25 years

South Dunedin
South Dunedin

3 weeks
7 weeks

In the house of Mr. F. Perry, Osmond Street, South Dunedin

05/76791

8 November 1905

D. Dutton

No	514
Date of Notice	10 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Lawrie	Edith Gertrude Tucker
BDM Match (96%)	Edward Laurie	Edith Gertrude Tucker
	💍 1905/4247
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	25 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 weeks	7 weeks
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. F. Perry, Osmond Street, South Dunedin
Folio	05/76791
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1905
Officiating Minister	D. Dutton

515

10 November 1905

Patrick Herbert
Julianna Foley

Patrick Herbert
Julianna Heley
💍 1905/4261

Widower
Spinster

Chief Detective of Police
Dressmaker

52 years
31 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
20 years

In St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin

05/76851

10 November 1905

Jas. Coffey

No	515
Date of Notice	10 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Herbert	Julianna Foley
BDM Match (93%)	Patrick Herbert	Julianna Heley
	💍 1905/4261
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Chief Detective of Police	Dressmaker
Age	52 years	31 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	05/76851
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 1905
Officiating Minister	Jas. Coffey

516

10 November 1905

George Henry Terry
Catherine Rose Gray

George Henry Terry
Catherine Ross Gray
💍 1905/4365

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

25 years
23 years

South Dunedin
North East Valley

17 years
3 days

In the house of Mr. D. Beath, Calton Terrace, North East Valley

05/76907

10 November 1905

D. S. Mason

No	516
Date of Notice	10 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Terry	Catherine Rose Gray
BDM Match (97%)	George Henry Terry	Catherine Ross Gray
	💍 1905/4365
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	25 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	North East Valley
Length of Residence	17 years	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. D. Beath, Calton Terrace, North East Valley
Folio	05/76907
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 1905
Officiating Minister	D. S. Mason

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).