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 088

District of CHRISTCHURCH Quarter ending 30 June 1905 Registrar L. C. Williams

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

417

27 June 1905

Arthur Henry Callaway
Lina Cecilia Frances Thompson

Arthur Henry Calloway
Cecilia Frances Thompson
💍 1905/656

Bachelor
Spinster

Vocalist
Vocalist

29
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 week
1 week

Methodist Church, Durham Street

05/1298

27 June 1905

Rev. W. Baumber, Methodist

No	417
Date of Notice	27 June 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Callaway	Lina Cecilia Frances Thompson
BDM Match (89%)	Arthur Henry Calloway	Cecilia Frances Thompson
	💍 1905/656
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Vocalist	Vocalist
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Durham Street
Folio	05/1298
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Baumber, Methodist

418

27 June 1905

Walter Hamilton
Minnie Gwendoline Hoth

Walter Hamilton
Minnie Gwendoline Hood
💍 1905/49

Bachelor
Spinster

Letter Carrier
Domestic

23
18

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 years
8 years

Methodist Church, Sydenham

05/2990

Alexander Hoth, father of bride

27 June 1905

Rev. W. Reade, Methodist

No	418
Date of Notice	27 June 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Hamilton	Minnie Gwendoline Hoth
BDM Match (95%)	Walter Hamilton	Minnie Gwendoline Hood
	💍 1905/49
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Letter Carrier	Domestic
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Sydenham
Folio	05/2990
Consent	Alexander Hoth, father of bride
Date of Certificate	27 June 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Reade, Methodist

419

28 June 1905

Eric Theodore Moller
Amy Ellen Holden

Eric Theodore Moller
Ivy Ellen Hebden
💍 1905/655

Bachelor
Spinster

Jeweller
Domestic

25
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

Methodist Church, Durham Street

05/2894

Mrs. Holden, mother of bride

28 June 1905

Rev. H. R. Dewsbury, Methodist

No	419
Date of Notice	28 June 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Theodore Moller	Amy Ellen Holden
BDM Match (88%)	Eric Theodore Moller	Ivy Ellen Hebden
	💍 1905/655
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jeweller	Domestic
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Durham Street
Folio	05/2894
Consent	Mrs. Holden, mother of bride
Date of Certificate	28 June 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. R. Dewsbury, Methodist

420

28 June 1905

Ernest Wallis Ellison
Lucy Olive Ellison

Ernest Walter Pearce
Lucy Elliott Allison
💍 1905/574

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

35
19

Christchurch
Culverden

6 days
3 days

St. Andrew's Church, Addington

05/2878

Julia Ellison, mother of bride

28 June 1905

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	420
Date of Notice	28 June 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Wallis Ellison	Lucy Olive Ellison
BDM Match (61%)	Ernest Walter Pearce	Lucy Elliott Allison
	💍 1905/574
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	35	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Culverden
Length of Residence	6 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Addington
Folio	05/2878
Consent	Julia Ellison, mother of bride
Date of Certificate	28 June 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

421

28 June 1905

Thomas Flint
Maggie Watson Brown

Thomas Hint York
Maggie Watson Brown
💍 1905/2753

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer

25
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 week
20 years

St. Barnabas, Fendalton

05/5217

28 June 1905

Rev. J. G. Hamilton, Anglican

No	421
Date of Notice	28 June 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Flint	Maggie Watson Brown
BDM Match (78%)	Thomas Hint York	Maggie Watson Brown
	💍 1905/2753
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 week	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas, Fendalton
Folio	05/5217
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 June 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Hamilton, Anglican

422

28 June 1905

Victor Graham Oldman
Mary Kate Pattison

Victor Graham Oldman
Mary Kate Patterson
💍 1905/600

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

25
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 years

Anglican Church, Burnside

05/2893

28 June 1905

Canon Pascoe, Anglican

No	422
Date of Notice	28 June 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Graham Oldman	Mary Kate Pattison
BDM Match (95%)	Victor Graham Oldman	Mary Kate Patterson
	💍 1905/600
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Burnside
Folio	05/2893
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 June 1905
Officiating Minister	Canon Pascoe, Anglican

423

29 June 1905

Benjamin Joseph Harper
Lillian Emily Harper

Benjamin Joseph Pegley
Lillian Emily Harper
💍 1905/2322

Bachelor
Spinster

Brickmaker
Tailoress

30
27

Opawa
Linwood

9 years
2 years

Anglican Church, Phillipstown

05/4671

29 June 1905

Rev. H. E. Emson, Anglican

No	423
Date of Notice	29 June 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Joseph Harper	Lillian Emily Harper
BDM Match (89%)	Benjamin Joseph Pegley	Lillian Emily Harper
	💍 1905/2322
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brickmaker	Tailoress
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Opawa	Linwood
Length of Residence	9 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Phillipstown
Folio	05/4671
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 June 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Emson, Anglican

424

29 June 1905

Thomas McGregor Nelson
Ann Jane Hampton

Thomas McGarva Nelson
Ann Jane Hampton
💍 1905/2261

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
28

Freedon
Freedon

20 years
20 years

Methodist Church, Freedons

05/4736

30 June 1905

Rev. C. Abernethy, Methodist

No	424
Date of Notice	29 June 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas McGregor Nelson	Ann Jane Hampton
BDM Match (89%)	Thomas McGarva Nelson	Ann Jane Hampton
	💍 1905/2261
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Freedon	Freedon
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Freedons
Folio	05/4736
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 June 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Abernethy, Methodist

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).