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 423

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 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

22 February 1906

Thomas Sylvester Shannon
Margaret Keer Stratton

Thomas Sylvester Shannon
Margaret Kerr Stratton
💍 1906/2560

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

28
24

South Dunedin
South Dunedin

28 years
12 months

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

06/1260

22 February 1906

H. Maxwell

No	78
Date of Notice	22 February 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Sylvester Shannon	Margaret Keer Stratton
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Sylvester Shannon	Margaret Kerr Stratton
	💍 1906/2560
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	28 years	12 months
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	06/1260
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1906
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

22 February 1906

Arthur Henry Robinson
Isabella Jenkins Robson

Arthur Henry Robinson
Isabella Jenkins Robson
💍 1906/2559

Bachelor
Divorcee

Warder

28
29

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

06/1259

22 February 1906

H. Maxwell

No	79
Date of Notice	22 February 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Robinson	Isabella Jenkins Robson
	💍 1906/2559
Condition	Bachelor	Divorcee
Profession	Warder
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	06/1259
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1906
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

23 February 1906

Thomas Baker
Kathleen Curtin

Thomas Baker
Kathleen Curtin
💍 1906/2644

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Tailoress

24
21

St. Kilda
St. Kilda

1 week
2 years

In St. Patrick's Basilica, South Dunedin

06/1312

23 February 1906

M. Howard

No	80
Date of Notice	23 February 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Baker	Kathleen Curtin
	💍 1906/2644
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Tailoress
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	St. Kilda	St. Kilda
Length of Residence	1 week	2 years
Marriage Place	In St. Patrick's Basilica, South Dunedin
Folio	06/1312
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1906
Officiating Minister	M. Howard

23 February 1906

John Herbert Ledgerwood
Caroline Collins

John Herbert Ledgerwood
Caroline Collins
💍 1906/2624

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

33
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

27 years
3 months

In St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin

06/1375

23 February 1906

C. E. Robinson

No	81
Date of Notice	23 February 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Herbert Ledgerwood	Caroline Collins
	💍 1906/2624
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	27 years	3 months
Marriage Place	In St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	06/1375
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1906
Officiating Minister	C. E. Robinson

24 February 1906

Joseph Ambrose Abrams
Elizabeth Sharp

Joseph Ambrose Abrams
Elizabeth Sharp
💍 1906/2415

Bachelor
Spinster

Artilleryman

26
31

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
2 months

In the house of R. Sharp, 34 Eden Street, Dunedin

06/1337

24 February 1906

Wm. Laycock

No	82
Date of Notice	24 February 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Ambrose Abrams	Elizabeth Sharp
	💍 1906/2415
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Artilleryman
Age	26	31
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	In the house of R. Sharp, 34 Eden Street, Dunedin
Folio	06/1337
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1906
Officiating Minister	Wm. Laycock

24 February 1906

Walter Stewart-Watt
Margaret Jane Will

Walter Stewart Watts
Margaret Jane Will
💍 1906/2416

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Tailoress

28
25

North East Valley
Caversham

3 weeks
12 years

In the house of the Registrar Wm. Laycock, 53 Dundas Street, Dunedin

06/1338

24 February 1906

Wm. Laycock

No	83
Date of Notice	24 February 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Stewart-Watt	Margaret Jane Will
BDM Match (95%)	Walter Stewart Watts	Margaret Jane Will
	💍 1906/2416
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Tailoress
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	North East Valley	Caversham
Length of Residence	3 weeks	12 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Registrar Wm. Laycock, 53 Dundas Street, Dunedin
Folio	06/1338
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1906
Officiating Minister	Wm. Laycock

24 February 1906

Frank Dawson
Lily Mabel Dawson

Frank Dawson
Lily Mabel Dawson
💍 1906/2653

Widower
Spinster

Painter
Hat-trimmer

26
23

South Dunedin
Dunedin

36 years
2 years

In the house of Mrs. Hannah Dawson, 284 Castle Street, Dunedin

06/1329

24 February 1906

W. A. Sinclair

No	84
Date of Notice	24 February 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Dawson	Lily Mabel Dawson
	💍 1906/2653
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Hat-trimmer
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	36 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs. Hannah Dawson, 284 Castle Street, Dunedin
Folio	06/1329
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1906
Officiating Minister	W. A. Sinclair

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).