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 103

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1906 Registrar L.C. Nicianal

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

517

13 August 1906

Victor LeMessurier
Abigail Wells

Victor Le Messurier
Abigail Wells
💍 1906/1419

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm laborer

35
24

Spreydon
Spreydon

35 years
3 years

Registrars Office Ch-ch

06/4829

13 August 1906

Registrar of Marriages

No	517
Date of Notice	13 August 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor LeMessurier	Abigail Wells
BDM Match (97%)	Victor Le Messurier	Abigail Wells
	💍 1906/1419
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm laborer
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Spreydon
Length of Residence	35 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Ch-ch
Folio	06/4829
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1906
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

518

13 August 1906

John Meikle
Gertrude Ceta Walker

John Meikle
Gertrude Ella Walker
💍 1906/5180

Bachelor
Spinster

Mercer

20
23

Ch Ch
St. Albans

3 years
23 years

House of Rev. T. James, 16 Gresford St.

06/4936

Robert Walker, Father

13 August 1906

Rev. T. Taut, Presbyterian

No	518
Date of Notice	13 August 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Meikle	Gertrude Ceta Walker
BDM Match (93%)	John Meikle	Gertrude Ella Walker
	💍 1906/5180
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mercer
Age	20	23
Dwelling Place	Ch Ch	St. Albans
Length of Residence	3 years	23 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. T. James, 16 Gresford St.
Folio	06/4936
Consent	Robert Walker, Father
Date of Certificate	13 August 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Taut, Presbyterian

519

13 August 1906

Clarkson Neil
Ethel Moorhead

Clarkson Neil
Ethel Moorhead
💍 1906/1418

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

32
21

Opawa
Opawa

8 years
21 years

Registrars Office Ch Ch

06/4828

13 August 1906

Registrar of Marriages

No	519
Date of Notice	13 August 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarkson Neil	Ethel Moorhead
	💍 1906/1418
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Opawa	Opawa
Length of Residence	8 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Ch Ch
Folio	06/4828
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1906
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

520

13 August 1906

Henry Charles Rose
Elizabeth Ann Long

Henry Charles Rose
Elizabeth Ann Long
💍 1906/5226

Widower
Spinster

Painter
Laundress

53
47

Ch Ch
Ch Ch

35 years
47 years

House of Rev. J. Orchard, Worcester St. Ch Ch

06/4986

13 August 1906

Rev. J. Orchard, Methodist

No	520
Date of Notice	13 August 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Charles Rose	Elizabeth Ann Long
	💍 1906/5226
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Laundress
Age	53	47
Dwelling Place	Ch Ch	Ch Ch
Length of Residence	35 years	47 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. J. Orchard, Worcester St. Ch Ch
Folio	06/4986
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Orchard, Methodist

521

13 August 1906

Edward Inglis
Annie Eliza Bultitude

Edward Inglis
Annie Eliza Buttiture
💍 1906/5117

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Tailoress

26
28

Ch Ch
Ch Ch

26 years
26 years

St. Michaels Ch Ch

06/4869

13 August 1906

Rev. F. L. Snow, Anglican

No	521
Date of Notice	13 August 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Inglis	Annie Eliza Bultitude
BDM Match (95%)	Edward Inglis	Annie Eliza Buttiture
	💍 1906/5117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Tailoress
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Ch Ch	Ch Ch
Length of Residence	26 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Michaels Ch Ch
Folio	06/4869
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. L. Snow, Anglican

522

14 August 1906

William Bale
Fanny Salt

William Bate
Fanny Salt
💍 1906/5132

Bachelor
Spinster

Stevedore

34
27

Ch-ch
Ch-ch

1 year
3 years

St. John's Woolston

06/4886

14 August 1906

Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

No	522
Date of Notice	14 August 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Bale	Fanny Salt
BDM Match (96%)	William Bate	Fanny Salt
	💍 1906/5132
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stevedore
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Ch-ch	Ch-ch
Length of Residence	1 year	3 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Woolston
Folio	06/4886
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 August 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

523

14 August 1906

Alexander Milne
Jeannie Anderson McDowell

Alexander Milne
Jeannie Anderson McDowell
💍 1906/5198

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist

24
24

Ch Ch
Ch Ch

24 years
24 years

Presbyterian Church Sydenham

06/4930

14 August 1906

Rev. C. Murray, Presbyterian

No	523
Date of Notice	14 August 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Milne	Jeannie Anderson McDowell
	💍 1906/5198
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Ch Ch	Ch Ch
Length of Residence	24 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Sydenham
Folio	06/4930
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 August 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Murray, Presbyterian

524

14 August 1906

Ira Inanhere Lawry
Edith Lilian Bolt

Ira Manhire Lawry
Edith Lilian Bolt
💍 1906/1417

Bachelor
Spinster

Housekeeper

28
27

New Brighton
New Brighton

18 years
9 months

Registrars Office Ch Ch

06/4827

14 August 1906

Registrar of Marriages

No	524
Date of Notice	14 August 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ira Inanhere Lawry	Edith Lilian Bolt
BDM Match (92%)	Ira Manhire Lawry	Edith Lilian Bolt
	💍 1906/1417
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Housekeeper
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	New Brighton
Length of Residence	18 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Ch Ch
Folio	06/4827
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 August 1906
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

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).