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 447

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 June 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

226

23 April 1906

John Freeman
Margaret Jane Johnston

John Freeman
Margaret Jane Johnston
💍 1906/1216

Bachelor
Spinster

Gentleman

53 years
23 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 weeks
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

06/3321

23 April 1906

H. Maxwell

No	226
Date of Notice	23 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Freeman	Margaret Jane Johnston
	💍 1906/1216
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gentleman
Age	53 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 weeks	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	06/3321
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1906
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

227

23 April 1906

John Knose
Catherine Hinchcliff

John Knox
Catherine Hinchcliff
💍 1906/1217

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

25 years
22 years

Mornington, Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
3 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

06/3322

23 April 1906

H. Maxwell

No	227
Date of Notice	23 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Knose	Catherine Hinchcliff
BDM Match (90%)	John Knox	Catherine Hinchcliff
	💍 1906/1217
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	25 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Mornington, Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	06/3322
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1906
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

228

23 April 1906

Patrick Jones
Rose May Pidgeon

Patrick Jones
Rose May Pidgeon
💍 1906/7651

Bachelor
Spinster

Gripman

24 years
20 years

Roslyn, West Harbour
Burkes, West Harbour

20 years
20 years

In the house of Mr. B. Pidgeon, Burkes, West Harbour

06/3418

Benjamin Pidgeon, father of bride

23 April 1906

W. M. Nicholson

No	228
Date of Notice	23 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Jones	Rose May Pidgeon
	💍 1906/7651
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gripman
Age	24 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Roslyn, West Harbour	Burkes, West Harbour
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. B. Pidgeon, Burkes, West Harbour
Folio	06/3418
Consent	Benjamin Pidgeon, father of bride
Date of Certificate	23 April 1906
Officiating Minister	W. M. Nicholson

229

23 April 1906

William Frederick Cornelius Clark
Amy Pledger

William Frederick Cornelius Clark
Amy Pledger
💍 1906/3828

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Mariner

39 years
24 years

Dunedin
58 Dowling Street, Dunedin

3 days
24 years

In the house of Mr. R. M. Greenslade, 58 Dowling Street, Dunedin

06/3390

23 April 1906

J. Dunlop

No	229
Date of Notice	23 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Frederick Cornelius Clark	Amy Pledger
	💍 1906/3828
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner
Age	39 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	58 Dowling Street, Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. R. M. Greenslade, 58 Dowling Street, Dunedin
Folio	06/3390
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1906
Officiating Minister	J. Dunlop

230

24 April 1906

Thomas Paterson
Elizabeth Winifred Howell

Thomas Paterson
Elizabeth Winifred Howell
💍 1906/1218

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom

38 years
32 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 weeks
3 weeks

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

06/3323

24 April 1906

H. Maxwell

No	230
Date of Notice	24 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Paterson	Elizabeth Winifred Howell
	💍 1906/1218
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom
Age	38 years	32 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	06/3323
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1906
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

231

25 April 1906

David Cochrane Mills
Jane McKittrick

David Cochrane Mills
Jane McKittrich
💍 1906/5665

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

31 years
31 years

Dunedin
Reid Street, South Dunedin

3 days
5 years

In the house of Mr. Wm. McKittrick, Reid Street, South Dunedin

06/5777

25 April 1906

Jas. Chisholm

No	231
Date of Notice	25 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Cochrane Mills	Jane McKittrick
BDM Match (97%)	David Cochrane Mills	Jane McKittrich
	💍 1906/5665
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	31 years	31 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Reid Street, South Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Wm. McKittrick, Reid Street, South Dunedin
Folio	06/5777
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 April 1906
Officiating Minister	Jas. Chisholm

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).