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 619

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 1906 Registrar Thos. S. Stewart

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

163

22 October 1906

John Plank
Helen Brown

John Plank
Helen Brown
💍 1906/7334

John Wilson
Nellie Brown
💍 1906/734

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway-Porter
Domestic

24
23

Effrick Street, Invercargill
Effrick Street, Invercargill

2 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill

06/7374

22 October 1906

Very Rev. Dean Burke

No	163
Date of Notice	22 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Plank	Helen Brown
	💍 1906/7334
BDM Match (61%)	John Wilson	Nellie Brown
	💍 1906/734
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway-Porter	Domestic
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Effrick Street, Invercargill	Effrick Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill
Folio	06/7374
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1906
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Burke

164

23 October 1906

John Agnew
Margaret Horne Ferrier

John Agnew
Margaret Horne Ferrier
💍 1906/7518

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

21
22

Morton Mains, Southland
Waituna, Southland

3 months
7 years

Residence of Alexander Ferrier, Waituna, Southland

06/7631

23 October 1906

Rev. E. J. Carter

No	164
Date of Notice	23 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Agnew	Margaret Horne Ferrier
	💍 1906/7518
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Morton Mains, Southland	Waituna, Southland
Length of Residence	3 months	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Alexander Ferrier, Waituna, Southland
Folio	06/7631
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Carter

165

24 October 1906

Charles Petersen
Mary Martyn Powrie

Charles Petersen
Mary Martyn Powis
💍 1906/7309

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph-Lineman
School Teacher

24
26

Tay Street, Invercargill
Ritchee Street East, Invercargill

3 days
4 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

06/7349

24 October 1906

Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

No	165
Date of Notice	24 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Petersen	Mary Martyn Powrie
BDM Match (94%)	Charles Petersen	Mary Martyn Powis
	💍 1906/7309
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph-Lineman	School Teacher
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Tay Street, Invercargill	Ritchee Street East, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	06/7349
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1906
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

166

24 October 1906

William Edward Mitchell
Wilhelmina Riddell

William Edward Mitchell
Wilhelmina Riddell
💍 1906/7303

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic

27
24

East Invercargill
North Invercargill

27 years
22 years

Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

06/7361

24 October 1906

Rev. George Lindsay

No	166
Date of Notice	24 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Mitchell	Wilhelmina Riddell
	💍 1906/7303
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	East Invercargill	North Invercargill
Length of Residence	27 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	06/7361
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Lindsay

167

25 October 1906

James Thomson Fergusson Mitchell
Lois Adelina Chewings

James Thomson Ferguson Mitchell
Lois Adelina Chewings
💍 1906/7380

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock-Agent

31
24

Eye Street, Invercargill
Mossburn, Southland

5 years
5 years

Residence of George Chewings, Glenelg, Lumsden, Mossburn

06/7468

25 October 1906

Rev. James Cumming

No	167
Date of Notice	25 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Thomson Fergusson Mitchell	Lois Adelina Chewings
BDM Match (98%)	James Thomson Ferguson Mitchell	Lois Adelina Chewings
	💍 1906/7380
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock-Agent
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Eye Street, Invercargill	Mossburn, Southland
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of George Chewings, Glenelg, Lumsden, Mossburn
Folio	06/7468
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Cumming

168

26 October 1906

Sydney Arthur Giller
Anne Maltby Donnelly

Sydney Arthur Giller
Anne Maltby Donnelly
💍 1906/7305

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Saleswoman

26
27

Clyde Street, Invercargill
Earn Street, Invercargill

26 years
25 years

Presbyterian Church, Conon Street, Invercargill

06/7363

26 October 1906

Rev. F. W. Dunlop

No	168
Date of Notice	26 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Arthur Giller	Anne Maltby Donnelly
	💍 1906/7305
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Saleswoman
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Clyde Street, Invercargill	Earn Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	26 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Conon Street, Invercargill
Folio	06/7363
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Dunlop

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).