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 794

District of Tokomairiro Quarter ending 31 March 1906 Registrar Antony Watson Oxley

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

3 January 1906

William Thomas Peters
Winnie Rowley

William Thomas Peters
Minnie Rowley
💍 1906/158

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

26
22

Milton
Millburn

7 days

House of Mrs Hooper, Milton

06/1473

3 January 1906

Rev C. H. Standage

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Peters	Winnie Rowley
BDM Match (96%)	William Thomas Peters	Minnie Rowley
	💍 1906/158
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Milton	Millburn
Length of Residence	7 days
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Hooper, Milton
Folio	06/1473
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev C. H. Standage

11 January 1906

William Painchbury
Annette Little

William Lainchbury
Annette Little
💍 1906/159

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic Duties

26
45

Milton
Milton

14 days
25 years

Presbyterian Church, Milton

06/1474

11 January 1906

Rev P. V. B. Fraser

No	2
Date of Notice	11 January 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Painchbury	Annette Little
BDM Match (97%)	William Lainchbury	Annette Little
	💍 1906/159
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic Duties
Age	26	45
Dwelling Place	Milton	Milton
Length of Residence	14 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Milton
Folio	06/1474
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev P. V. B. Fraser

30 January 1906

William Arthur Park
Eliza Thomson

William Arthur Baxter
Eliza Speid Thomson
💍 1906/157

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

34
26

Kelso
Milton

6 months
26 years

House of Mrs Thomson, North Branch

06/1472

2 February 1906

Rev G. Miller

No	3
Date of Notice	30 January 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur Park	Eliza Thomson
BDM Match (72%)	William Arthur Baxter	Eliza Speid Thomson
	💍 1906/157
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Kelso	Milton
Length of Residence	6 months	26 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Thomson, North Branch
Folio	06/1472
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev G. Miller

5 February 1906

Charles Froude
Sabina Fahey

Charles Irons
Sabina Fahey
💍 1906/3918

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

38
33

Riversdale
Milton

6 years
33 years

Residence of Mrs Fahey, Milton

06/3685

8 February 1906

Rev Jas. O'Neill

No	4
Date of Notice	5 February 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Froude	Sabina Fahey
BDM Match (86%)	Charles Irons	Sabina Fahey
	💍 1906/3918
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	38	33
Dwelling Place	Riversdale	Milton
Length of Residence	6 years	33 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Fahey, Milton
Folio	06/3685
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev Jas. O'Neill

13 February 1906

James Copland
Annie Mulhare

James Copland
Annie Mulhare
💍 1906/7677

Bachelor
Widow

Ploughman
Housekeeper

37
30

Milton
Milton

3 days
3 days

Catholic Church, Milton

06/3686

13 February 1906

Rev Jas. O'Neill

No	5
Date of Notice	13 February 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Copland	Annie Mulhare
	💍 1906/7677
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Ploughman	Housekeeper
Age	37	30
Dwelling Place	Milton	Milton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Milton
Folio	06/3686
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev Jas. O'Neill

12 March 1906

David Scott
Margaret Dunlop

David Scott
Margaret Dunlop
💍 1906/160

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

30
34

Milton
Lovells Flat

3 days
34 years

House of Mr Dunlop, Lovells Flat

06/1475

12 March 1906

Rev A. B. Fraser

No	6
Date of Notice	12 March 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Scott	Margaret Dunlop
	💍 1906/160
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	30	34
Dwelling Place	Milton	Lovells Flat
Length of Residence	3 days	34 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr Dunlop, Lovells Flat
Folio	06/1475
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev A. B. Fraser

23 March 1906

George Stanley Tomphinson
Mary Brabyn

George Stanley Tomkinson
Mary Brabyn
💍 1906/3919

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic Duties

21
27

Mosgiel
Clarendon

1 year
14 years

House of Mrs Brabyn, Clarendon

06/13687

23 March 1906

Rev W. H. Howes

No	7
Date of Notice	23 March 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Stanley Tomphinson	Mary Brabyn
BDM Match (96%)	George Stanley Tomkinson	Mary Brabyn
	💍 1906/3919
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	27
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel	Clarendon
Length of Residence	1 year	14 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Brabyn, Clarendon
Folio	06/13687
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev W. H. Howes

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).