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 607

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1906 Registrar S. Petre

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

2 June 1906

John Francis Forde
Gertrude Amelia Lynch

John Francis Forde
Gertrude Amelia Lynch
💍 1906/3512

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

29
23

Waikivi, Invercargill
Waikivi, Invercargill

12 years
13 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill

06/3584

2 June 1906

Rev. James O'Hally

No	93
Date of Notice	2 June 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Francis Forde	Gertrude Amelia Lynch
	💍 1906/3512
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Waikivi, Invercargill	Waikivi, Invercargill
Length of Residence	12 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill
Folio	06/3584
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. James O'Hally

9 June 1906

Norman McIntyre
Margaret Laurie

Norman McIntyre
Margaret Laurie
💍 1906/3497

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

24
22

Grove Bush, Invercargill
Grove Bush, Invercargill

24 years
1 month

Residence of Rev. J. Baird, Spey Street, Invercargill

06/3562

9 June 1906

Rev. J. Baird

No	94
Date of Notice	9 June 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman McIntyre	Margaret Laurie
	💍 1906/3497
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Grove Bush, Invercargill	Grove Bush, Invercargill
Length of Residence	24 years	1 month
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. Baird, Spey Street, Invercargill
Folio	06/3562
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Baird

11 June 1906

Albert Charles Campbell
Elizabeth Corkin

Albert Charles Campbell
Elizabeth Corkin
💍 1906/3571

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Domestic

26
24

Don Street, Invercargill
Don Street, Invercargill

4 days
6 months

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

06/3537

11 June 1906

Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

No	95
Date of Notice	11 June 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Charles Campbell	Elizabeth Corkin
	💍 1906/3571
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Don Street, Invercargill	Don Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	06/3537
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1906
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

15 June 1906

Edward Cooper Leary
Nelly Houlston

Edward Cooper Leary
Nelly Houlston
💍 1906/7171

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

31
30

Dee Street, Invercargill
Green Island, Dunedin

6 months
16 years

Residence of Adam Houlston, Green Island, Dunedin

06/7175

15 June 1906

Rev. Edgar Ward

No	96
Date of Notice	15 June 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Cooper Leary	Nelly Houlston
	💍 1906/7171
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Dee Street, Invercargill	Green Island, Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 months	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Adam Houlston, Green Island, Dunedin
Folio	06/7175
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edgar Ward

22 June 1906

Oscar Bernard Kensteen
Jane Sinclair

Oscar Bernard Ekensteen
Jane Sinclair
💍 1906/3586

Francis Russell Christie
Jane Sinclair
💍 1906/4522

Bachelor
Spinster

Stationer
Tailoress

39
31

Don Street, Invercargill
The Maister Street East, Invercargill

39 years
3 years

Residence of John Sinclair, The Maister Street East, Invercargill

06/3559

22 June 1906

Rev. J. Lindsay

No	97
Date of Notice	22 June 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oscar Bernard Kensteen	Jane Sinclair
BDM Match (96%)	Oscar Bernard Ekensteen	Jane Sinclair
	💍 1906/3586
BDM Match (60%)	Francis Russell Christie	Jane Sinclair
	💍 1906/4522
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stationer	Tailoress
Age	39	31
Dwelling Place	Don Street, Invercargill	The Maister Street East, Invercargill
Length of Residence	39 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Sinclair, The Maister Street East, Invercargill
Folio	06/3559
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 June 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Lindsay

25 June 1906

John Peter Butler
Catherine McNamara

John Peter Butter
Catherine McNamara
💍 1906/4788

Bachelor
Spinster

Dentist
Dressmaker

25
28

Tweed Street, Invercargill
Mary Street East, Invercargill

8 years
28 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill

06/3585

25 June 1906

Very Rev. Dean Burke

No	98
Date of Notice	25 June 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Peter Butler	Catherine McNamara
BDM Match (97%)	John Peter Butter	Catherine McNamara
	💍 1906/4788
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dentist	Dressmaker
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Tweed Street, Invercargill	Mary Street East, Invercargill
Length of Residence	8 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill
Folio	06/3585
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 June 1906
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Burke

28 June 1906

Charles Grace
Mary Ellen Parry (Late Jones)

Charles Grace
Mary Ellen Parry
💍 1906/3589

Widower
Divorced

Candlemaker
Nurse

34
26

Dee Street, Invercargill
Dee Street, Invercargill

4 days
8 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

06/3539

Decree absolute 6 January 1905, Strand, Middlesex

28 June 1906

Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

No	99
Date of Notice	28 June 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Grace	Mary Ellen Parry (Late Jones)
BDM Match (78%)	Charles Grace	Mary Ellen Parry
	💍 1906/3589
Condition	Widower	Divorced
Profession	Candlemaker	Nurse
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Dee Street, Invercargill	Dee Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 days	8 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	06/3539
Consent	Decree absolute 6 January 1905, Strand, Middlesex
Date of Certificate	28 June 1906
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

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).