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 627

District of INVERCARGILL Quarter ending 31 December 1906 Registrar H. 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

199

28 December 1906

James George McKay
Amy Catherine Bath

James George McKay
Amy Catherine Bath
💍 1907/1681

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher
Domestic

27
24

Conon Street, INVERCARGILL
Yarrow Street, INVERCARGILL

6 days
23 years

Baptist Church, Esk Street, INVERCARGILL

07/1800

28 December 1906

Rev. Frank Hales

No	199
Date of Notice	28 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James George McKay	Amy Catherine Bath
	💍 1907/1681
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher	Domestic
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Conon Street, INVERCARGILL	Yarrow Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	6 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Esk Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/1800
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. Frank Hales

200

28 December 1906

William Sims
Margaret Georgina Nicol

William Sims
Margaret Georgina Nicol
💍 1907/1680

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

31
20

Tisbury, INVERCARGILL
Tisbury, INVERCARGILL

3 days
20 years

Residence of Mr. Charles Smith Nicol, Tisbury

07/1799

Helen Ogilvy, Mother

28 December 1906

Rev. J. A. Rybus

No	200
Date of Notice	28 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Sims	Margaret Georgina Nicol
	💍 1907/1680
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Tisbury, INVERCARGILL	Tisbury, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Charles Smith Nicol, Tisbury
Folio	07/1799
Consent	Helen Ogilvy, Mother
Date of Certificate	28 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Rybus

201

29 December 1906

Robert Frew Lyon
Margaret Gill

Robert Frew Lyon
Margaret Gill
💍 1906/7306

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

34
23

Ryal Bush, INVERCARGILL
Ryal Bush, INVERCARGILL

3 days
18 years

Residence of Mr. Hilary Gill, Ryal Bush

06/7364

29 December 1906

Rev. J. J. Burrows

No	201
Date of Notice	29 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Frew Lyon	Margaret Gill
	💍 1906/7306
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Ryal Bush, INVERCARGILL	Ryal Bush, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 days	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Hilary Gill, Ryal Bush
Folio	06/7364
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Burrows

202

29 December 1906

Robert King
Hannah Murdoch

Robert King
Hannah Murdock
💍 1907/1683

Widower
Spinster

Miner
Dressmaker

37
27

Esk Street, INVERCARGILL
Spey Street, INVERCARGILL

8 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, INVERCARGILL

07/1801

29 December 1906

Rev. J. M. Simpson

No	202
Date of Notice	29 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert King	Hannah Murdoch
BDM Match (96%)	Robert King	Hannah Murdock
	💍 1907/1683
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Dressmaker
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Esk Street, INVERCARGILL	Spey Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	8 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/1801
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Simpson

203

31 December 1906

Frank Galbraith Rogers
Alice Catherine Moore

Frank Galbraith Rogers
Alice Catherine Moore
💍 1907/1679

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep-farmer
Domestic

32
42

Dee Street, INVERCARGILL
Waihiwi, INVERCARGILL

3 days
42 years

English Church, Gladstone, INVERCARGILL

07/1798

31 December 1906

Rev. William Swinburn

No	203
Date of Notice	31 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Galbraith Rogers	Alice Catherine Moore
	💍 1907/1679
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep-farmer	Domestic
Age	32	42
Dwelling Place	Dee Street, INVERCARGILL	Waihiwi, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 days	42 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Gladstone, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/1798
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Swinburn

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).