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 411

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

7 February 1905

Arthur James Martin
Mary Lauredo

Arthur James Martin
Mary Lauredo Gille
💍 1905/6338

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist
Tailoress

25 years
24 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 weeks
4 months

In St Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin

05/1373

7 February 1905

P Murphy

No	50
Date of Notice	7 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur James Martin	Mary Lauredo
BDM Match (83%)	Arthur James Martin	Mary Lauredo Gille
	💍 1905/6338
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist	Tailoress
Age	25 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 weeks	4 months
Marriage Place	In St Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	05/1373
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1905
Officiating Minister	P Murphy

9 February 1905

Frederick Collingwood Liggins
Margaret Lilias Stables

Frederick Collingwood Liggins
Margaret Lilian Stubler
💍 1905/6316

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Clerk

31 years
32 years

Dunedin
Roslyn

31 years
10 years

In the house of Mr J. W. Stables, City Road, Roslyn

05/1347

9 February 1905

T Nisbet

No	51
Date of Notice	9 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Collingwood Liggins	Margaret Lilias Stables
BDM Match (94%)	Frederick Collingwood Liggins	Margaret Lilian Stubler
	💍 1905/6316
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Clerk
Age	31 years	32 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Roslyn
Length of Residence	31 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr J. W. Stables, City Road, Roslyn
Folio	05/1347
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1905
Officiating Minister	T Nisbet

9 February 1905

Donald Stuart Maclean
Mary Jane Douglas

Donald Stuart Maclean
Mary Jane Douglas
💍 1905/6343

Bachelor
Spinster

Confectioner

22 years
19 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

22 years
6 years

In the house of Mr Stephen E Douglas, 8 Lambeth Road, Dunedin

05/1402

Stephen Emanuel Douglas, Father

9 February 1905

Wm Saunders

No	52
Date of Notice	9 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Stuart Maclean	Mary Jane Douglas
	💍 1905/6343
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Confectioner
Age	22 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	22 years	6 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr Stephen E Douglas, 8 Lambeth Road, Dunedin
Folio	05/1402
Consent	Stephen Emanuel Douglas, Father
Date of Certificate	9 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Wm Saunders

10 February 1905

Robert Dreaver
Matilda Charlotte Stewart

Robert Deaver
Matilda Charlotte Stewart
💍 1905/6306

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

28 years
23 years

Dunedin
Maori Hill

10 years
3 years

In St Stephen's Church, Dunedin

05/1360

10 February 1905

J. K. McIntyre

No	53
Date of Notice	10 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Dreaver	Matilda Charlotte Stewart
BDM Match (96%)	Robert Deaver	Matilda Charlotte Stewart
	💍 1905/6306
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	28 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Maori Hill
Length of Residence	10 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In St Stephen's Church, Dunedin
Folio	05/1360
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1905
Officiating Minister	J. K. McIntyre

11 February 1905

Thomas Daniel Goodman
Sarah Bentley Sharp

Thomas Daniel Goodman
Sarah Bentley Sharp
💍 1905/6281

Bachelor
Spinster

Carriage-Painter

29 years
20 years

South Dunedin
Caversham

28 years
5 years

In the house of the Revd D. Dutton, Caversham

05/1383

John Sharp, Father

11 February 1905

D Dutton

No	54
Date of Notice	11 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Daniel Goodman	Sarah Bentley Sharp
	💍 1905/6281
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carriage-Painter
Age	29 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	Caversham
Length of Residence	28 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Revd D. Dutton, Caversham
Folio	05/1383
Consent	John Sharp, Father
Date of Certificate	11 February 1905
Officiating Minister	D Dutton

13 February 1905

Alexander Millar
Sarah Elms

Alexander Millar
Sarah Elms
💍 1905/5023

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman

30 years
21 years

Caversham
Caversham

3 weeks
3 weeks

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

05/1303

13 February 1905

C Maxwell

No	55
Date of Notice	13 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Millar	Sarah Elms
	💍 1905/5023
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman
Age	30 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Caversham
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	05/1303
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1905
Officiating Minister	C Maxwell

13 February 1905

Philip Warden White
Christina Helen Shand

Philip Warden White
Christina Helen Shand
💍 1905/6356

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

29 years
25 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the house of Mr Edwin White, William Street, Mornington

05/1414

13 February 1905

T. M. Turner

No	56
Date of Notice	13 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Warden White	Christina Helen Shand
	💍 1905/6356
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr Edwin White, William Street, Mornington
Folio	05/1414
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1905
Officiating Minister	T. M. Turner

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).