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 019

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1905 Registrar William Winsbury White

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

19 May 1905

Donald Connell
Annie Stapleton

Donnald Connell
Annie Stapleton
💍 1905/7196

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Domestic duties

45
50

Mayfield
Mayfield

7 years
20 years

In the dwelling of Donald Connell at Mayfield

05/2778

19 May 1905

Rev. W. W. Hain

No	36
Date of Notice	19 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Connell	Annie Stapleton
BDM Match (97%)	Donnald Connell	Annie Stapleton
	💍 1905/7196
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	45	50
Dwelling Place	Mayfield	Mayfield
Length of Residence	7 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the dwelling of Donald Connell at Mayfield
Folio	05/2778
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Hain

24 May 1905

Robert Amos Maw
Alice Muir

Robert Amos Maw
Alice Muir
💍 1905/325

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Domestic duties

26
26

Southbridge
Waterton

4 days
26 years

Church of England at Waterton

05/3583

24 May 1905

Rev. E. Blakiston

No	37
Date of Notice	24 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Amos Maw	Alice Muir
	💍 1905/325
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Domestic duties
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Southbridge	Waterton
Length of Residence	4 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Church of England at Waterton
Folio	05/3583
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Blakiston

29 May 1905

Herbert Alfred William Billman
Louise E. Smith

Herbert Alfred William Gillman
Louisa Smith
💍 1905/2191

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher
Domestic duties

29
29

Ashburton
Coldstream Ashburton

4 days
12 months

St. Stephen's Church of England at Ashburton

05/4596

29 May 1905

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	38
Date of Notice	29 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Alfred William Billman	Louise E. Smith
BDM Match (85%)	Herbert Alfred William Gillman	Louisa Smith
	💍 1905/2191
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher	Domestic duties
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Coldstream Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 days	12 months
Marriage Place	St. Stephen's Church of England at Ashburton
Folio	05/4596
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

6 June 1905

William John Moore
Rachel Wilson

William John Moore
Rachel Wilson
💍 1905/7193

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Domestic duties

33
30

Ashburton
Wakanui

6 years
55 years

Presbyterian Church Wakanui

05/2775

6 June 1905

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	39
Date of Notice	6 June 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Moore	Rachel Wilson
	💍 1905/7193
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Domestic duties
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Wakanui
Length of Residence	6 years	55 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Wakanui
Folio	05/2775
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

6 June 1905

William Edgar Harris
Clara Elizabeth Tilley

William Edgar Harris
Clara Elizabeth Tilley
💍 1905/7204

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic duties

21
26

Ashburton
Ashburton

6 months
25 years

Primitive Methodist Church Ashburton

05/2785

6 June 1905

Rev. Robert Raine

No	40
Date of Notice	6 June 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edgar Harris	Clara Elizabeth Tilley
	💍 1905/7204
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic duties
Age	21	26
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	6 months	25 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church Ashburton
Folio	05/2785
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Raine

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).