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 409

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

30 January 1905

Halbert Alexander Goudie
Mary McFarlane

Halbert Alexander Goudie
Mary McFarlane
💍 1905/1184

Bachelor
Spinster

Nurseryman

27 years
25 years

North East Valley
Dunedin

3 days
13 years

Knox Church

05/1359

30 January 1905

A. H. Kinmon

No	36
Date of Notice	30 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Halbert Alexander Goudie	Mary McFarlane
	💍 1905/1184
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Nurseryman
Age	27 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	North East Valley	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	13 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church
Folio	05/1359
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1905
Officiating Minister	A. H. Kinmon

30 January 1905

Walter Fuller
Beatrice Dryden

Walter Fuller
Beatrice Dryden
💍 1905/6331

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk
Hat-trimmer

21 years
18 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
8 years

In the house of Mr. M. Dryden, 31 Canongate Street, Dunedin

05/1390

Margaret M. Dryden, mother

30 January 1905

W. A. Sinclair

No	37
Date of Notice	30 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Fuller	Beatrice Dryden
	💍 1905/6331
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk	Hat-trimmer
Age	21 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	8 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. M. Dryden, 31 Canongate Street, Dunedin
Folio	05/1390
Consent	Margaret M. Dryden, mother
Date of Certificate	30 January 1905
Officiating Minister	W. A. Sinclair

30 January 1905

Eugene Joseph O'Neill
Josephine Monaghan

Eugene Joseph O'Neill
Josephine Monaghan
💍 1905/6336

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner

29 years
30 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

18 months
3 days

In St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin

05/1371

Thomas Joseph Monaghan, father

30 January 1905

P. Murphy

No	38
Date of Notice	30 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eugene Joseph O'Neill	Josephine Monaghan
	💍 1905/6336
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner
Age	29 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	18 months	3 days
Marriage Place	In St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	05/1371
Consent	Thomas Joseph Monaghan, father
Date of Certificate	30 January 1905
Officiating Minister	P. Murphy

31 January 1905

James Knopp
Amelia Batchelor

James Knox
Amelia Batchelor
💍 1905/6310

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

39 years
24 years

Mornington
Mornington

24 years
5 weeks

In the house of Mr. R. Crawford, Granville Terrace, Mornington

05/1363

31 January 1905

John Dunlop

No	39
Date of Notice	31 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Knopp	Amelia Batchelor
BDM Match (91%)	James Knox	Amelia Batchelor
	💍 1905/6310
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	39 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Mornington
Length of Residence	24 years	5 weeks
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. R. Crawford, Granville Terrace, Mornington
Folio	05/1363
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1905
Officiating Minister	John Dunlop

31 January 1905

John Dempster
Catherine Kane

John Dempster
Catherine Kane
💍 1905/6413

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine-driver

24 years
24 years

Green Island
Green Island

24 years
24 years

In the house of Mr. Daniel Kane, Green Island

05/1608

31 January 1905

J. Kilpatrick

No	40
Date of Notice	31 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Dempster	Catherine Kane
	💍 1905/6413
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine-driver
Age	24 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Green Island	Green Island
Length of Residence	24 years	24 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Daniel Kane, Green Island
Folio	05/1608
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1905
Officiating Minister	J. Kilpatrick

1 February 1905

John Mercer
Eliza Harriet Chetwin

John Mercer
Eliza Harriet Chetwin
💍 1905/6294

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward
Tailoress

30 years
29 years

Dunedin
Caversham

3 weeks
29 years

In St. Peter's Church, Caversham

05/1323

1 February 1905

B. M. King

No	41
Date of Notice	1 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Mercer	Eliza Harriet Chetwin
	💍 1905/6294
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward	Tailoress
Age	30 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Caversham
Length of Residence	3 weeks	29 years
Marriage Place	In St. Peter's Church, Caversham
Folio	05/1323
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1905
Officiating Minister	B. M. King

2 February 1905

William James Ansell
Maud Rosine Clough

William James Ansell
Maud Rosine Clough
💍 1905/6354

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Machinist

26 years
23 years

North East Valley
North East Valley

24 years
23 years

In the Baptist Church, North East Valley

05/1412

2 February 1905

D. S. Mason

No	42
Date of Notice	2 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Ansell	Maud Rosine Clough
	💍 1905/6354
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Machinist
Age	26 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	North East Valley	North East Valley
Length of Residence	24 years	23 years
Marriage Place	In the Baptist Church, North East Valley
Folio	05/1412
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 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).