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 747

District of Popotunoa Quarter ending 30 September 1906 Registrar F.A.B. Sugden

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

17 July 1906

Thomas Lorbet
Mary Ethel Letitia Carmody

Thomas Torbet
Mary Ethel Laetitia Carmody
💍 1906/7409

Widower
Spinster

Surfaceman
Domestic Duties

46
24

Clinton
Clinton

3 Days
3 Days

Dwelling House of R.H. Easplin, Clinton

06/7474

17 July 1906

Rev. Father J. O'Donnell

No	7
Date of Notice	17 July 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Lorbet	Mary Ethel Letitia Carmody
BDM Match (94%)	Thomas Torbet	Mary Ethel Laetitia Carmody
	💍 1906/7409
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman	Domestic Duties
Age	46	24
Dwelling Place	Clinton	Clinton
Length of Residence	3 Days	3 Days
Marriage Place	Dwelling House of R.H. Easplin, Clinton
Folio	06/7474
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father J. O'Donnell

25 July 1906

Andrew Carney
Ellen Lena Carmody

Andrew Carney
Ellen Lena Carmody
💍 1906/7413

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

45
30

Clinton
Clinton

3 Days
3 Days

Roman Catholic Church, Clinton

06/7475

25 July 1906

Rev. Father P. O'Donnell

No	8
Date of Notice	25 July 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Carney	Ellen Lena Carmody
	💍 1906/7413
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	45	30
Dwelling Place	Clinton	Clinton
Length of Residence	3 Days	3 Days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Clinton
Folio	06/7475
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father P. O'Donnell

26 July 1906

Joseph Bagrie
Rebecca Marion Cairns McLachlan

Joseph Bagrie
Rebecca Marion Cairns McLachlan
💍 1906/5538

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
21

Waipahi
Waipahi

25 years
2 months

Private House of J.J. Bagrie, Waipahi

06/5318

26 July 1906

Rev. W.F. Craigie

No	9
Date of Notice	26 July 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Bagrie	Rebecca Marion Cairns McLachlan
	💍 1906/5538
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Waipahi	Waipahi
Length of Residence	25 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Private House of J.J. Bagrie, Waipahi
Folio	06/5318
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. W.F. Craigie

20 August 1906

Robert William Orr
Mary Isabella Turnbull

Robert William Orr
Mary Isabella Turnbull
💍 1906/5539

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
24

Gorge Clinton
Waipahi

27 years
24 years

Private house of Joseph Turnbull, Waipahi

06/5319

20 August 1906

Rev. R.H. Blair

No	10
Date of Notice	20 August 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William Orr	Mary Isabella Turnbull
	💍 1906/5539
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Gorge Clinton	Waipahi
Length of Residence	27 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Private house of Joseph Turnbull, Waipahi
Folio	06/5319
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. R.H. Blair

10A

15 September 1906

Sydney Herbert Knight
Elizabeth Templeton Rogerson

Sydney Herbert Knight
Elizabeth Templeton Rogerson
💍 1906/5540

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

24
22

Otaraia
Otaraia

10 years
22 years

Private house of S. Rogerson

06/5320

15 September 1906

Rev. R.H. Blair

No	10A
Date of Notice	15 September 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Herbert Knight	Elizabeth Templeton Rogerson
	💍 1906/5540
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Otaraia	Otaraia
Length of Residence	10 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Private house of S. Rogerson
Folio	06/5320
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 September 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. R.H. Blair

29 September 1906

William Angus
Mary McFadden

William Angus
Mary McFadden
💍 1906/7286

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Overseer
Domestic Duties

26 years
26 years

Clydevale
Hampden

5 years
25 years

Presbyterian Church, Hampden

06/7343

29 September 1906

Rev. William Nichol

No	11
Date of Notice	29 September 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Angus	Mary McFadden
	💍 1906/7286
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Overseer	Domestic Duties
Age	26 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Clydevale	Hampden
Length of Residence	5 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hampden
Folio	06/7343
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 September 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Nichol

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).