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 028

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1906 Registrar William Winsbury White

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

164

3 November 1906

Harry Broomfield
Mary Ann Begg

Harry Broomfield
Mary Ann Begg
💍 1906/6785

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Laborer
domestic duties

41
34

Ashlon
Ashlon

20 years
15 years

Presbyterian Manse at Flemington

06/6772

3 November 1906

Rev. I. B. Paterson M.A.

No	164
Date of Notice	3 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Broomfield	Mary Ann Begg
	💍 1906/6785
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Laborer	domestic duties
Age	41	34
Dwelling Place	Ashlon	Ashlon
Length of Residence	20 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse at Flemington
Folio	06/6772
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. B. Paterson M.A.

165

3 November 1906

Edward George Dale
Isabella Douglas Walker

Edward George Dale
Isabella Douglas Walker
💍 1906/6803

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
domestic duties

28 years
29 years

Allenton
Allenton

4 months
2 years

Presbyterian Church at Ashburton

06/6774

3 November 1906

Rev. Alfred Peters

No	165
Date of Notice	3 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward George Dale	Isabella Douglas Walker
	💍 1906/6803
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	domestic duties
Age	28 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Allenton
Length of Residence	4 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church at Ashburton
Folio	06/6774
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Peters

166

5 November 1906

James Maxwell
Jessie Matheson

James Maxwell
Jessie Matheson
💍 1906/6796

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
domestic duties

43 years
30 years

Ashburton
Ashburton

19 years
30 years

The dwelling of Henry McElrea Ashburton

06/6773

5 November 1906

Rev. Walter Harris

No	166
Date of Notice	5 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Maxwell	Jessie Matheson
	💍 1906/6796
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	domestic duties
Age	43 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	19 years	30 years
Marriage Place	The dwelling of Henry McElrea Ashburton
Folio	06/6773
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter Harris

167

8 November 1906

William Black Kidd
Alice Rickard

William Kidd
Alice Rickard
💍 1906/6775

Bachelor
Spinster

Smith
domestic duties

33 years
36

Ashburton
Riverside

35 years
26 years

At the dwelling of Mrs Margaret Rickard Riverside

06/6769

8 November 1906

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	167
Date of Notice	8 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Black Kidd	Alice Rickard
BDM Match (83%)	William Kidd	Alice Rickard
	💍 1906/6775
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Smith	domestic duties
Age	33 years	36
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Riverside
Length of Residence	35 years	26 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of Mrs Margaret Rickard Riverside
Folio	06/6769
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

168

12 November 1906

Andrew Wilson Kelman
Elsie McLauchlan

Andrew Wilson Kilman
Elsie McLauchlan
💍 1906/7055

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

29 years
18 years

Lowcliff
Lowcliff

8 years
3 years

At the Church of England at Windermere

06/7079

Alexander McLauchlan, father of minor

12 November 1906

Rev. H. G. Blackburne M.A.

No	168
Date of Notice	12 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Wilson Kelman	Elsie McLauchlan
BDM Match (98%)	Andrew Wilson Kilman	Elsie McLauchlan
	💍 1906/7055
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	29 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Lowcliff	Lowcliff
Length of Residence	8 years	3 years
Marriage Place	At the Church of England at Windermere
Folio	06/7079
Consent	Alexander McLauchlan, father of minor
Date of Certificate	12 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Blackburne M.A.

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).