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 324

District of Akaroa Quarter ending 30 June 1906 Registrar T. Somerfield

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

16 April 1906

Jesse Reader
Margaret Jessie McLean

Jesse Reader
Margaret Jessie McLean
💍 1906/1203

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

29
31

Waikari
Waikari

4 days
20 years

Brides father's House

06/3257

16 April 1906

Rev. D. D. Rodger

No	37
Date of Notice	16 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jesse Reader	Margaret Jessie McLean
	💍 1906/1203
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Waikari	Waikari
Length of Residence	4 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Brides father's House
Folio	06/3257
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. D. Rodger

16 April 1906

Ernest Peter Honeybone
Eliza Miller Harrington

Ernest Peter Honeybone
Eliza Miller Harrington
💍 1906/7587

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic Duty

22
22

Waikari
Waikari

22 years
22 years

English Church, Waikari

06/3261

16 April 1906

Rev. J. R. Wilford

No	38
Date of Notice	16 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Peter Honeybone	Eliza Miller Harrington
	💍 1906/7587
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic Duty
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Waikari	Waikari
Length of Residence	22 years	22 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Waikari
Folio	06/3261
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Wilford

18 April 1906

Ernest Loader
Grace Darroch

Ernest Cooper
Grace Darroch
💍 1906/1204

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Domestic Duties

28
28

Waikari
Waikari

3 days
15 years

Presbyterian Church

06/3258

18 April 1906

Rev. D. D. Rodger

No	39
Date of Notice	18 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Loader	Grace Darroch
BDM Match (88%)	Ernest Cooper	Grace Darroch
	💍 1906/1204
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Domestic Duties
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Waikari	Waikari
Length of Residence	3 days	15 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	06/3258
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 April 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. D. Rodger

8 May 1906

Arthur Edward Lovegrove
Phoebe Janet Scott

Arthur Edward Lovegrove
Phoebe Janet Scott
💍 1906/3346

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

31
30

Waikari
Omihi

5 years
3 years

Brides parents House

06/3262

8 May 1906

Rev. C. A. Tobin

No	40
Date of Notice	8 May 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edward Lovegrove	Phoebe Janet Scott
	💍 1906/3346
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Waikari	Omihi
Length of Residence	5 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Brides parents House
Folio	06/3262
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Tobin

11 June 1906

Henry John Needs
Julia Conradine Muecke

Henry John Weeks
Julia Conradina Mueller
💍 1906/3329

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Domestic Duties

23
21

Waikari
Waikari

5 days
10 years

Presbyterian Church

06/3259

11 June 1906

Rev. D. D. Rodger

No	41
Date of Notice	11 June 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Needs	Julia Conradine Muecke
BDM Match (85%)	Henry John Weeks	Julia Conradina Mueller
	💍 1906/3329
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Domestic Duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Waikari	Waikari
Length of Residence	5 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	06/3259
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. D. Rodger

21 June 1906

Henry Symons Allens
Sarah Elizabeth Atkinson

Henry Symons Allen
Sarah Elizabeth Atkinson
💍 1906/3340

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
27

Waikari
Waikari

5 days
7 years

Brides Mother's House

06/3260

21 June 1906

Rev. D. D. Rodger

No	42
Date of Notice	21 June 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Symons Allens	Sarah Elizabeth Atkinson
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Symons Allen	Sarah Elizabeth Atkinson
	💍 1906/3340
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Waikari	Waikari
Length of Residence	5 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Brides Mother's House
Folio	06/3260
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 June 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. D. Rodger

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).