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 226

District of Malvern Quarter ending 30 June 1906 Registrar A. C. Druman

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

10 April 1906

Frederick Pearle Batchelor
Hepzibah Ann Williams

Frederick Searle
Hepzibah Ann Williams
💍 1906/3558

Batchelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

73
38

Russell's Flat
Russell's Flat

13 months
31 Years

Methodist Church, Russell's

06/3177

10 April 1906

Rev. R. P. Keall

No	3
Date of Notice	10 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Pearle Batchelor	Hepzibah Ann Williams
BDM Match (79%)	Frederick Searle	Hepzibah Ann Williams
	💍 1906/3558
Condition	Batchelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	73	38
Dwelling Place	Russell's Flat	Russell's Flat
Length of Residence	13 months	31 Years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Russell's
Folio	06/3177
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. P. Keall

16 April 1906

Charles Frank Stanley Burke
Janet Harriet Brown

Charles Frank Stanley Burke
Janet Harriet Brown
💍 1906/3552

Batchelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

24
23

Kowai Bush
Kowai Bush

1 Year
23 Years

Kowai Bush School

06/3172

16 April 1906

Rev. A. H. Norris

No	4
Date of Notice	16 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Frank Stanley Burke	Janet Harriet Brown
	💍 1906/3552
Condition	Batchelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Kowai Bush	Kowai Bush
Length of Residence	1 Year	23 Years
Marriage Place	Kowai Bush School
Folio	06/3172
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Norris

23 April 1906

Robert John Dunbar Innes
Elizabeth Ann Taylor

Robert John Dunbar Innes
Elizabeth Ann Taylor
💍 1906/3553

Batchelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic

28
20

Dalethorpe
Springfield

2 Years 8 months
20 Years

St. Peter's Church, Springfield

06/3173

James Taylor, father

25 April 1906

Rev. A. H. Norris

No	5
Date of Notice	23 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert John Dunbar Innes	Elizabeth Ann Taylor
	💍 1906/3553
Condition	Batchelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Dalethorpe	Springfield
Length of Residence	2 Years 8 months	20 Years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Springfield
Folio	06/3173
Consent	James Taylor, father
Date of Certificate	25 April 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Norris

12 May 1906

Leslie Seymour Smith
Caroline Ernestine Mehrlens

Leslie Seymour Smith
Caroline Ernstine Mehrtens
💍 1906/3551

Batchelor
Spinster

Poultry Farmer
Domestic

26
21

Rangiora
Rangiora

3 Years
21 Years

Registrar's Office, Sheffield

06/3171

12 May 1906

A. C. Druman, Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	12 May 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Seymour Smith	Caroline Ernestine Mehrlens
BDM Match (96%)	Leslie Seymour Smith	Caroline Ernstine Mehrtens
	💍 1906/3551
Condition	Batchelor	Spinster
Profession	Poultry Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Rangiora	Rangiora
Length of Residence	3 Years	21 Years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Sheffield
Folio	06/3171
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 May 1906
Officiating Minister	A. C. Druman, Registrar

2 June 1906

William Calder
Laura Jane Croskell

William Calder
Laura Jane Croshell
💍 1906/3555

Batchelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

23
21

Kirwee
Kirwee

3 Days
21 Years

Baptist Church, Kirwee

06/3175

2 June 1906

Rev. W. E. Lambart

No	7
Date of Notice	2 June 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Calder	Laura Jane Croskell
BDM Match (97%)	William Calder	Laura Jane Croshell
	💍 1906/3555
Condition	Batchelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Kirwee	Kirwee
Length of Residence	3 Days	21 Years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Kirwee
Folio	06/3175
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Lambart

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).