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 413

District of Dunedin 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

14 February 1905

William Thomas Adair
Matilda Minnie Hook

William Thomas Adair
Matilda Minnie Hook
💍 1905/6339

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Packer

37
19

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
19 years

In St Joseph's Cathedral Dunedin

05/1374

William Hook, Father

14 February 1905

P Murphy

No	63
Date of Notice	14 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Adair	Matilda Minnie Hook
	💍 1905/6339
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Packer
Age	37	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	19 years
Marriage Place	In St Joseph's Cathedral Dunedin
Folio	05/1374
Consent	William Hook, Father
Date of Certificate	14 February 1905
Officiating Minister	P Murphy

15 February 1905

George Joseph Errington
Ann Lappan

George Joseph Errington
Ann Lappan
💍 1905/5028

Bachelor
Spinster

Linotype Engineer

28
26

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 years
12 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

05/1308

15 February 1905

H Maxwell

No	64
Date of Notice	15 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Joseph Errington	Ann Lappan
	💍 1905/5028
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linotype Engineer
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 years	12 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	05/1308
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1905
Officiating Minister	H Maxwell

15 February 1905

Charles Edward Eyre
Edith Ruth Morris

Charles Edward Eyre
Edith Ruth Morris
💍 1905/6291

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

29
30

Caversham
Caversham

6 years
8 years

In St Paul's Cathedral Dunedin

05/1320

15 February 1905

C. G. Robinson

No	65
Date of Notice	15 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Eyre	Edith Ruth Morris
	💍 1905/6291
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Caversham
Length of Residence	6 years	8 years
Marriage Place	In St Paul's Cathedral Dunedin
Folio	05/1320
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1905
Officiating Minister	C. G. Robinson

15 February 1905

John Ritchie Samson
Agnes McCutcheon

John Ritchie
Agnes McCutcheon Samson
💍 1905/6415

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

29
28

South Dunedin
Caversham

29 years
10 years

In the house of Mr John Samson, Hillside Road, Caversham

05/1610

15 February 1905

Wm. Hay

No	66
Date of Notice	15 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ritchie Samson	Agnes McCutcheon
BDM Match (66%)	John Ritchie	Agnes McCutcheon Samson
	💍 1905/6415
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	Caversham
Length of Residence	29 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr John Samson, Hillside Road, Caversham
Folio	05/1610
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Wm. Hay

16 February 1905

Hugh Sinclair
Margaret Ballingall

Hugh Sinclair
Margaret Ballingall
💍 1905/5025

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

26
27

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of marriages Dunedin

05/1305

16 February 1905

H Maxwell

No	67
Date of Notice	16 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Sinclair	Margaret Ballingall
	💍 1905/5025
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of marriages Dunedin
Folio	05/1305
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1905
Officiating Minister	H Maxwell

16 February 1905

Roderick McLean
Mary Hansen

Roderick McLean
Mary Hansen
💍 1905/6366

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Waitress

26
24

North East Valley
Caversham

4 months
3 weeks

In the house of Mr Duncan Hume, Forbury Road, Caversham

05/1401

16 February 1905

A Hodge

No	68
Date of Notice	16 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roderick McLean	Mary Hansen
	💍 1905/6366
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Waitress
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	North East Valley	Caversham
Length of Residence	4 months	3 weeks
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr Duncan Hume, Forbury Road, Caversham
Folio	05/1401
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1905
Officiating Minister	A Hodge

17 February 1905

Joseph Heward
Sarah Voller

Joseph Heward
Sarah Voller
💍 1905/5026

Widower
Widow

Fisherman

71
55

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
20 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

05/1306

17 February 1905

H Maxwell

No	69
Date of Notice	17 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Heward	Sarah Voller
	💍 1905/5026
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Fisherman
Age	71	55
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	05/1306
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1905
Officiating Minister	H Maxwell

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).