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 293

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 June 1905 Registrar Alex. Montgomery

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

8 April 1905

Peter George Shepherd
Mabel Barnes

Peter George Shepherd
Mabel Barnes
💍 1905/1795

Widower
Spinster

Butcher
Dressmaker

28 years
23 years

Timaru
Mornington

8 weeks
6 days

Dwellinghouse of Mr. William Glaister, Springhill Road, Mornington, Dunedin

05/3367

18 April 1905

Mr. Thomas M. Turner, Church of Christ, South Dunedin

No	38
Date of Notice	8 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter George Shepherd	Mabel Barnes
	💍 1905/1795
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Dressmaker
Age	28 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Mornington
Length of Residence	8 weeks	6 days
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Mr. William Glaister, Springhill Road, Mornington, Dunedin
Folio	05/3367
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Mr. Thomas M. Turner, Church of Christ, South Dunedin

20 April 1905

Alexander Sinclair
Rose Foster Baker

Alexander Sinclair Mills
Rose Foster Baker
💍 1905/787

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

32 years
31 years

Blue Cliffs
Timaru

12 years
31 years

Dwellinghouse of Thomas Baker, Arthur Street, Timaru

05/3117

20 April 1905

Rev. Archibald E. Hunt, Congregational Minister

No	39
Date of Notice	20 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Sinclair	Rose Foster Baker
BDM Match (88%)	Alexander Sinclair Mills	Rose Foster Baker
	💍 1905/787
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	32 years	31 years
Dwelling Place	Blue Cliffs	Timaru
Length of Residence	12 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Thomas Baker, Arthur Street, Timaru
Folio	05/3117
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archibald E. Hunt, Congregational Minister

22 April 1905

John William Sadler
Marion Alice Froggatt

John William Sadler
Marion Alice Froggatt
💍 1905/815

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Sailoress

24 years
18 years

Adair
Adair

18 years
6 weeks

Dwellinghouse of Henry George Sadler, Adair

05/3122

Benjamin Froggatt, father

22 April 1905

Rev. S. J. Serpell, Wesleyan Minister

No	40
Date of Notice	22 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Sadler	Marion Alice Froggatt
	💍 1905/815
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Sailoress
Age	24 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Adair	Adair
Length of Residence	18 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Henry George Sadler, Adair
Folio	05/3122
Consent	Benjamin Froggatt, father
Date of Certificate	22 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. J. Serpell, Wesleyan Minister

25 April 1905

Archibald Cecil Fyfe
Elizabeth Jane Williams

Archibald Cecil Fyfe
Elizabeth Jane Williams
💍 1905/2418

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist
State School Teacher

28 years
31 years

Timaru
Adair

5 days
5 days

St. Mark's English Church, Beaconsfield

05/4827

25 April 1905

Rev. Thomas Earl, Church of England Clergyman

No	41
Date of Notice	25 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Cecil Fyfe	Elizabeth Jane Williams
	💍 1905/2418
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist	State School Teacher
Age	28 years	31 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Adair
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	St. Mark's English Church, Beaconsfield
Folio	05/4827
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Earl, Church of England Clergyman

2 May 1905

Joseph John Earl
Mary Austin

Joseph John Earl
Mary Austin
💍 1905/784

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26 years
28 years

St. Andrews
Timaru

4 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

05/3114

2 May 1905

Rev. John Subma, Roman Catholic Priest

No	42
Date of Notice	2 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph John Earl	Mary Austin
	💍 1905/784
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	St. Andrews	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	05/3114
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Subma, Roman Catholic Priest

3 May 1905

George William Dagerty
Emily Rutter

George William Hagerty
Emily Rutter
💍 1905/772

Bachelor
Spinster

Coalman
Domestic Servant

29 years
22 years

Timaru
Timaru

3 years
5 years

Registrar's Office, Timaru

05/3103

3 May 1905

Alex. Montgomery, Registrar

No	43
Date of Notice	3 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Dagerty	Emily Rutter
BDM Match (98%)	George William Hagerty	Emily Rutter
	💍 1905/772
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coalman	Domestic Servant
Age	29 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Timaru
Folio	05/3103
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Alex. Montgomery, Registrar

8 May 1905

William Henry Hunt
Lily Hosking

William Henry Hunt
Lily Hosking
💍 1905/788

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic Duties

22 years
24 years

Timaru
Timaru

22 years
24 years

Dwellinghouse of Mr. Higgins, High Street, Timaru

05/3118

8 May 1905

Rev. Percy James Cossins, Primitive Methodist Minister

No	44
Date of Notice	8 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Hunt	Lily Hosking
	💍 1905/788
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic Duties
Age	22 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	22 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Mr. Higgins, High Street, Timaru
Folio	05/3118
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Percy James Cossins, Primitive Methodist Minister

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).