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 385

District of Catlins Quarter ending 31 December 1906 Registrar James Thomas Bryonh

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 October 1906

Lewis John Edward
Margaret Campbell

Louis John Edwards
Margaret Campbell
💍 1906/7087

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
25

Waiwera South
Cannibal Bay

9 years in the residence of Mr J.T. Campbell, Cannibal Bay

J.T. Campbell, Cannibal Bay

06/7111

19 October 1906

Rev. William Wingfield, Anglican, Owaka

No	13
Date of Notice	19 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis John Edward	Margaret Campbell
BDM Match (92%)	Louis John Edwards	Margaret Campbell
	💍 1906/7087
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Waiwera South	Cannibal Bay
Length of Residence		9 years in the residence of Mr J.T. Campbell, Cannibal Bay
Marriage Place	J.T. Campbell, Cannibal Bay
Folio	06/7111
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Wingfield, Anglican, Owaka

1 November 1906

Richard Toddard
Alice Margaret Cork

Richard Stoddart
Alice Margaret Cook
💍 1906/4638

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
20

Owaka Valley
Owaka Valley

10 years in the residence of Mr John Cook
18 months in the residence of Mr John Cook, Owaka Valley

John Cook, Owaka Valley

06/7112

John Cook, father

30 November 1906

Rev. William Wingfield, Anglican, Owaka

No	14
Date of Notice	1 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Toddard	Alice Margaret Cork
BDM Match (88%)	Richard Stoddart	Alice Margaret Cook
	💍 1906/4638
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Owaka Valley	Owaka Valley
Length of Residence	10 years in the residence of Mr John Cook	18 months in the residence of Mr John Cook, Owaka Valley
Marriage Place	John Cook, Owaka Valley
Folio	06/7112
Consent	John Cook, father
Date of Certificate	30 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Wingfield, Anglican, Owaka

10 December 1906

Alexander Pullar
Myrtle Elizabeth Gordon

Alexander Pullar
Myrtle Elizabeth Goodnire Ashmore
💍 1906/7088

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

33
20

Owaka
Owaka

10 years in the residence of Mr Joseph Ashman
14 years in the residence of Mr Joseph Ashman, Owaka

Joseph Ashman, Owaka

06/7113

Joseph Ashman, father

10 December 1906

Rev. William Wingfield, Anglican, Owaka

No	15
Date of Notice	10 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Pullar	Myrtle Elizabeth Gordon
BDM Match (82%)	Alexander Pullar	Myrtle Elizabeth Goodnire Ashmore
	💍 1906/7088
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Owaka	Owaka
Length of Residence	10 years in the residence of Mr Joseph Ashman	14 years in the residence of Mr Joseph Ashman, Owaka
Marriage Place	Joseph Ashman, Owaka
Folio	06/7113
Consent	Joseph Ashman, father
Date of Certificate	10 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Wingfield, Anglican, Owaka

19 December 1906

John Foxton Parker
Annie Maria Berney

John Foxton Parker
Annie Maria Berney
💍 1906/4639

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

33
30

Owaka
Owaka

18 years
11 years

The Anglican Church, Owaka

06/7114

19 December 1906

Rev. William Wingfield, Anglican, Owaka

No	16
Date of Notice	19 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Foxton Parker	Annie Maria Berney
	💍 1906/4639
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Owaka	Owaka
Length of Residence	18 years	11 years
Marriage Place	The Anglican Church, Owaka
Folio	06/7114
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Wingfield, Anglican, Owaka

20 December 1906

Albert Arthur Eason
Mary Ann Sutton

Albert Arthur Eason
Mary Ann Sutton
💍 1906/7089

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller

26
28

Katea
Purekireki

14 years
24 years in the residence of Mr E. Sutton, Purekireki

E. Sutton, Purekireki

06/7115

20 December 1906

Rev. John Chisholm, Presbyterian, Owaka

No	17
Date of Notice	20 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Arthur Eason	Mary Ann Sutton
	💍 1906/7089
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Katea	Purekireki
Length of Residence	14 years	24 years in the residence of Mr E. Sutton, Purekireki
Marriage Place	E. Sutton, Purekireki
Folio	06/7115
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Chisholm, Presbyterian, Owaka

27 December 1906

James Pervie Riddell
Elizabeth Rhoda Dawson

James Perrie Riddell
Elisabeth Rhoda Dawson
💍 1906/7091

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

49
34

Rimu
Kahuika

2 weeks
12 years in the residence of Mr E.R. Dawson, Kahuika

E.R. Dawson, Kahuika

06/7116

27 December 1906

Rev. John Chisholm, Presbyterian, Owaka

No	18
Date of Notice	27 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Pervie Riddell	Elizabeth Rhoda Dawson
BDM Match (95%)	James Perrie Riddell	Elisabeth Rhoda Dawson
	💍 1906/7091
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	49	34
Dwelling Place	Rimu	Kahuika
Length of Residence	2 weeks	12 years in the residence of Mr E.R. Dawson, Kahuika
Marriage Place	E.R. Dawson, Kahuika
Folio	06/7116
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Chisholm, Presbyterian, Owaka

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).