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 617

District of INVERCARGILL Quarter ending 31 December 1906 Registrar John Dawson

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

151

1 October 1906

John Fahey
Mary Ellen Hynes

John Fahey
Mary Ellen Hynes
💍 1906/7315

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Domestic

32
30

Dee Street, INVERCARGILL
West Plains, Southland

3 days
30 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, INVERCARGILL

06/7372

1 October 1906

Very Rev. Dean Burke

No	151
Date of Notice	1 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Fahey	Mary Ellen Hynes
	💍 1906/7315
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Domestic
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Dee Street, INVERCARGILL	West Plains, Southland
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	06/7372
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1906
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Burke

152

1 October 1906

Robert Meikle
Ida Bonney

Robert Meikle
Ida Bonney
💍 1906/7345

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal-miner
Domestic

28
30

One Tree Point, Southland
Kennington, Southland

3 days
12 years

Residence of Christopher Bonney, Kennington, Southland

06/7379

1 October 1906

Rev. R. Raine

No	152
Date of Notice	1 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Meikle	Ida Bonney
	💍 1906/7345
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal-miner	Domestic
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	One Tree Point, Southland	Kennington, Southland
Length of Residence	3 days	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Christopher Bonney, Kennington, Southland
Folio	06/7379
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Raine

153

2 October 1906

John Thomas Blampied
Ellen Maud Robertson

John Thomas Blampied
Ellen Maud Robertson
💍 1906/7343

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Machinist

24
26

Eye Street, INVERCARGILL
Enwood, South INVERCARGILL

3 days
26 years

Residence of M. Agnes Robertson, Enwood, South INVERCARGILL

06/7377

2 October 1906

William D. Little

No	153
Date of Notice	2 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Blampied	Ellen Maud Robertson
	💍 1906/7343
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Machinist
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Eye Street, INVERCARGILL	Enwood, South INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of M. Agnes Robertson, Enwood, South INVERCARGILL
Folio	06/7377
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1906
Officiating Minister	William D. Little

154

5 October 1906

William James Kidd
Annie Hutchings
formerly Kidd

William James Kidd
Annie Hutchings
💍 1906/7290

Divorced
Divorced

Labourer
Domestic

34
30

Clifton, INVERCARGILL
Clifton, INVERCARGILL

3 days
7 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages at INVERCARGILL

06/7347

5 October 1906

Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

No	154
Date of Notice	5 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Kidd	Annie Hutchings formerly Kidd
	💍 1906/7290
Condition	Divorced	Divorced
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Clifton, INVERCARGILL	Clifton, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages at INVERCARGILL
Folio	06/7347
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1906
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

155

8 October 1906

William Shave
Ellen Mary Isitt

William Shave
Ellen Mary Isitt
💍 1906/7346

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

30
28

Bay Road, INVERCARGILL
Otatara, INVERCARGILL

25 years
12 years

Residence of William Shave, Bay Road, INVERCARGILL

06/7380

8 October 1906

Rev. R. Raine

No	155
Date of Notice	8 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Shave	Ellen Mary Isitt
	💍 1906/7346
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Bay Road, INVERCARGILL	Otatara, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	25 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Shave, Bay Road, INVERCARGILL
Folio	06/7380
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Raine

156

9 October 1906

Herbert Laing Hay
Mary Dawson McRobie

Herbert Laing Hay
Mary Dawson McRobie
💍 1906/7308

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Tailoress

24
28

Forth Street, INVERCARGILL
Eye Street, INVERCARGILL

27 years
28 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, INVERCARGILL

06/7366

9 October 1906

Rev. R. Ferguson

No	156
Date of Notice	9 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Laing Hay	Mary Dawson McRobie
	💍 1906/7308
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Tailoress
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Forth Street, INVERCARGILL	Eye Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	27 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	06/7366
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Ferguson

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).