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 614

District of INVERCARGILL Quarter ending 30 September 1906

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

136

5 September 1906

George Henry Lines
Elizabeth May Aitken

George Henry Lines
Elizabeth May Aitken
💍 1906/5487

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

28
23

Georgetown INVERCARGILL
Georgetown INVERCARGILL

28 years
23 years

Residence of George Henry Lines Georgetown INVERCARGILL

06/5266

5 September 1906

Rev. G. Lindsay

No	136
Date of Notice	5 September 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Lines	Elizabeth May Aitken
	💍 1906/5487
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Georgetown INVERCARGILL	Georgetown INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	28 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of George Henry Lines Georgetown INVERCARGILL
Folio	06/5266
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 September 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Lindsay

137

6 September 1906

John Graham
Janet Nimmo Calvert

John Graham
Janet Nimmo Calvert
💍 1906/5495

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

29
27

Hennington Southland
Roslyn Bush Southland

4 years
27 years

Residence of Francis Calvert Roslyn Bush Southland

06/5254

6 September 1906

Rev. J. Cumming

No	137
Date of Notice	6 September 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Graham	Janet Nimmo Calvert
	💍 1906/5495
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Hennington Southland	Roslyn Bush Southland
Length of Residence	4 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Francis Calvert Roslyn Bush Southland
Folio	06/5254
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 September 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cumming

138

8 September 1906

William Sorensen
Emily Lane

William Sorensen
Emily Lane
💍 1906/5471

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Cook

27
23

Gladstone INVERCARGILL
Maharewa Southland

27 years
23 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages INVERCARGILL

06/5248

8 September 1906

Registrar of Marriages INVERCARGILL

No	138
Date of Notice	8 September 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Sorensen	Emily Lane
	💍 1906/5471
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Cook
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Gladstone INVERCARGILL	Maharewa Southland
Length of Residence	27 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages INVERCARGILL
Folio	06/5248
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 September 1906
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages INVERCARGILL

139

10 September 1906

Archibald Gibb Lindsay
Emma MacDougall

Archibald Gibb Lindsay
Emma MacDougall
💍 1906/5490

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

30
22

Tesbury Southland
Tesbury Southland

3 days
2 months

Residence of Rev. James Baird Spey Street INVERCARGILL

06/5269

10 September 1906

Rev. James Baird

No	139
Date of Notice	10 September 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Gibb Lindsay	Emma MacDougall
	💍 1906/5490
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Tesbury Southland	Tesbury Southland
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. James Baird Spey Street INVERCARGILL
Folio	06/5269
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 September 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Baird

140

12 September 1906

Frank Dunick
Letitia Reid

Frank Dunick
Letitia Reid
💍 1906/5472

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Laundress

34
35

East INVERCARGILL
Esk Street INVERCARGILL

6 months
13 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages INVERCARGILL

06/5249

12 September 1906

Registrar of Marriages INVERCARGILL

No	140
Date of Notice	12 September 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Dunick	Letitia Reid
	💍 1906/5472
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Laundress
Age	34	35
Dwelling Place	East INVERCARGILL	Esk Street INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	6 months	13 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages INVERCARGILL
Folio	06/5249
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 September 1906
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages INVERCARGILL

141

13 September 1906

Charles Donald
Annie Louisa Weir

Charles Donald
Annie Louisa Weir
💍 1906/5489

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

23
23

Waianiwa Southland
Waianiwa Southland

6 months
23 years

Residence of William Weir Waianiwa Southland

06/5268

13 September 1906

Rev. A. D. Kirkland

No	141
Date of Notice	13 September 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Donald	Annie Louisa Weir
	💍 1906/5489
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Waianiwa Southland	Waianiwa Southland
Length of Residence	6 months	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Weir Waianiwa Southland
Folio	06/5268
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 September 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. D. Kirkland

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).