Intentions to Marry, 1907 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840435, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1907 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1907a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1907b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1907c).

Page 009

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1907 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

179

3 January 1907

William Bickerstaff
Edith Lillian Morris

William Bickerstaff
Edith Lilian Morris
💍 1907/1007

Widower
Spinster

Storeman N.Z. Railways
domestic duties

53
39

Ashburton
Ashburton

25 years
one Month

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

07/1103

3 January 1907

W. W. White Registrar

No	179
Date of Notice	3 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Bickerstaff	Edith Lillian Morris
BDM Match (98%)	William Bickerstaff	Edith Lilian Morris
	💍 1907/1007
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Storeman N.Z. Railways	domestic duties
Age	53	39
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	25 years	one Month
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	07/1103
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1907
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

180

7 January 1907

Arthur Lewis Mayor
Harriett Wills

Arthur Lewis Mayor
Harrieth Wills
💍 1907/1012

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Laborer
domestic duties

33
24

Ashburton
Racthorne

6 years
24 years

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

07/1107

7 January 1907

Rev. F. E. Whitehouse

No	180
Date of Notice	7 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Lewis Mayor	Harriett Wills
BDM Match (96%)	Arthur Lewis Mayor	Harrieth Wills
	💍 1907/1012
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Laborer	domestic duties
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Racthorne
Length of Residence	6 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	07/1107
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. E. Whitehouse

181

12 January 1907

George Dellow
Rachel Gillespie

George Dellow
Rachel Gillespie
💍 1907/1023

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
domestic duties

23
22

Mayfield
Wheatstone

23 years
18 years

Presbyterian Church Flemington

07/1111

12 January 1907

Rev. J. C. Paterson M.A.

No	181
Date of Notice	12 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Dellow	Rachel Gillespie
	💍 1907/1023
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	domestic duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Mayfield	Wheatstone
Length of Residence	23 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Flemington
Folio	07/1111
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Paterson M.A.

182

12 February 1907

Alfred Augustus Fooks
Adele Catherine Helen Nairn

Alfred Augustus Fooks
Adele Catherine Helen Nairn
💍 1907/1166

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor
domestic duties

48
20

Ashburton
Christchurch

30 years
9 months

St Michaels Church of England Christchurch

07/1246

Elizabeth Brodie, mother of Minor

12 February 1907

Archdeacon A. W. Averill M.A.

No	182
Date of Notice	12 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Augustus Fooks	Adele Catherine Helen Nairn
	💍 1907/1166
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor	domestic duties
Age	48	20
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	30 years	9 months
Marriage Place	St Michaels Church of England Christchurch
Folio	07/1246
Consent	Elizabeth Brodie, mother of Minor
Date of Certificate	12 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon A. W. Averill M.A.

183

12 February 1907

Alexander Brown
Helen Nolan

Alexander Brown
Helen Nolan
💍 1907/1008

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
domestic duties

23
23

Ashburton
Ashburton

4 years
23 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

07/1104

12 February 1907

W. W. White Registrar

No	183
Date of Notice	12 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Brown	Helen Nolan
	💍 1907/1008
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	domestic duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	07/1104
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1907
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

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).