Intentions to Marry, 1906 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840432, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1906 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1906a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1906b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1906c).

Page 183

District of Geraldine Quarter ending 31 December 1906 Registrar Agnes Andrews

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

717

9 October 1906

Hugh O'Neil Campbell
Elizabeth Quoad

Hugh O'Neil Campbell
Elizabeth Quaid
💍 1906/6989

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
General Servant

31
23

Orari
Pleasant Valley

17 years
23 years

Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine

06/6987

9 October 1906

Very Rev. H. G. Bowers, Roman Catholic

No	717
Date of Notice	9 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh O'Neil Campbell	Elizabeth Quoad
BDM Match (93%)	Hugh O'Neil Campbell	Elizabeth Quaid
	💍 1906/6989
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	General Servant
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Orari	Pleasant Valley
Length of Residence	17 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine
Folio	06/6987
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1906
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. H. G. Bowers, Roman Catholic

718

15 October 1906

Arthur Ernest Bright
Beatrice Agnes Young

Arthur Ernest Bright
Beatrice Agnes Pring
💍 1906/6990

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet Maker
Domestic Duties

23
23

Geraldine
Geraldine

1 week
4 days

St. Mary's Church, Geraldine

06/6988

15 October 1906

Rev. Staples Hamilton, Church of England

No	718
Date of Notice	15 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Ernest Bright	Beatrice Agnes Young
BDM Match (93%)	Arthur Ernest Bright	Beatrice Agnes Pring
	💍 1906/6990
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet Maker	Domestic Duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Geraldine
Length of Residence	1 week	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Geraldine
Folio	06/6988
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. Staples Hamilton, Church of England

719

9 November 1906

John Llewellyn Davis
Emily Garrard

John Llewellyn Davis
Emily Garraid
💍 1906/6992

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachbuilder
Assistant to Dentist

30
23

Orari
Orari

5 days
4 months

Church of the Holy Trinity, Orari

06/6989

9 November 1906

Rev. Staples Hamilton, Church of England

No	719
Date of Notice	9 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Llewellyn Davis	Emily Garrard
BDM Match (96%)	John Llewellyn Davis	Emily Garraid
	💍 1906/6992
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachbuilder	Assistant to Dentist
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Orari	Orari
Length of Residence	5 days	4 months
Marriage Place	Church of the Holy Trinity, Orari
Folio	06/6989
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. Staples Hamilton, Church of England

720

9 November 1906

James Douglas Scobie
George Simmons

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

23
36

Timaru
Orari

2 years
3 days

Church of the Holy Trinity, Orari

06/6990

9 November 1906

Rev. Staples Hamilton, Church of England

No	720
Date of Notice	9 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Douglas Scobie	George Simmons
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	23	36
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Orari
Length of Residence	2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of the Holy Trinity, Orari
Folio	06/6990
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. Staples Hamilton, Church of England

721

10 November 1906

Leonard Robert Taylor
Ellen Friel

Leonard Robert Taylor
Ellen Friel
💍 1906/7548

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Agent
Domestic Duties

26
25

Geraldine
Pleasant Point

26 years
2 months

Roman Catholic Church, Pleasant Point

06/7648

10 November 1906

Rev. J. Turley, Roman Catholic

No	721
Date of Notice	10 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Robert Taylor	Ellen Friel
	💍 1906/7548
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Agent	Domestic Duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Pleasant Point
Length of Residence	26 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Pleasant Point
Folio	06/7648
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Turley, Roman Catholic

722

1 December 1906

William John Grindell
Lucy Hughes

William John Grindell
Lucy Hughes
💍 1906/6994

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Servant

26
23

Geraldine
Geraldine

2 months
2 weeks

St. Mary's Church, Geraldine

06/6991

1 December 1906

Rev. Staples Hamilton, Church of England

No	722
Date of Notice	1 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Grindell	Lucy Hughes
	💍 1906/6994
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Servant
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Geraldine
Length of Residence	2 months	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Geraldine
Folio	06/6991
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. Staples Hamilton, Church of England

723

3 December 1906

Charles William Chapman
Fanny Louisa Kelland

Charles William Chapman
Fanny Louisa Kelland
💍 1906/6995

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30
33

Kakahu
Kakahu

3 days
30 years

The Home of Mr. John Kelland, Kakahu

06/6992

3 December 1906

Rev. Staples Hamilton, Church of England

No	723
Date of Notice	3 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Chapman	Fanny Louisa Kelland
	💍 1906/6995
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	33
Dwelling Place	Kakahu	Kakahu
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	The Home of Mr. John Kelland, Kakahu
Folio	06/6992
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. Staples Hamilton, Church of England

724

10 December 1906

Walter Irving Dawson
Mary Eliza Morris

Walter Irving Dawson
Mary Eliza Morrison
💍 1906/6857

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant in Post Office, Wellington
Milliner

25
25

Christchurch
Geraldine

3 days
25 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

06/6830

10 December 1906

Mr. H. C. Williams, Registrar of Marriages

No	724
Date of Notice	10 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Irving Dawson	Mary Eliza Morris
BDM Match (95%)	Walter Irving Dawson	Mary Eliza Morrison
	💍 1906/6857
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant in Post Office, Wellington	Milliner
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Geraldine
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	06/6830
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Mr. H. C. Williams, Registrar of Marriages

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 1908. 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).