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 011

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

189

12 March 1907

William James Smith
Grace Davidson

William James Smith
Grace Davidson
💍 1907/1010

Bachelor
Spinster

Teamster
domestic duties

24
18

Westerfield
Lismore

12 years
18 years

Office of the Registrar at Ashburton

07/1105

William Davidson, father of minor

12 March 1907

W. W. White, Registrar

No	189
Date of Notice	12 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Smith	Grace Davidson
	💍 1907/1010
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teamster	domestic duties
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Westerfield	Lismore
Length of Residence	12 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar at Ashburton
Folio	07/1105
Consent	William Davidson, father of minor
Date of Certificate	12 March 1907
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

190

14 March 1907

William Keall Dellow
Ellen Sewell

William Keall Dellow
Ellen Sewell
💍 1907/1987

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
domestic duties

22
19

Mayfield
Ruapuna

22 years
15 years

the Public Library at Ruapuna

07/2092

David Oliver Sewell, father of minor

14 March 1907

Rev. E. R. Blakiston

No	190
Date of Notice	14 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Keall Dellow	Ellen Sewell
	💍 1907/1987
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	domestic duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Mayfield	Ruapuna
Length of Residence	22 years	15 years
Marriage Place	the Public Library at Ruapuna
Folio	07/2092
Consent	David Oliver Sewell, father of minor
Date of Certificate	14 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. R. Blakiston

191

16 March 1907

William Tulloch
Jessica Wheeler

William Tulloch
Jessica Wheeler
💍 1907/1042

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
domestic duties

26
27

Ashburton
Ashburton

5 years
7 years

at the dwelling of William Tulloch, Tancred Street, Ashburton

07/1114

16 March 1907

Rev. Alfred Peters

No	191
Date of Notice	16 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Tulloch	Jessica Wheeler
	💍 1907/1042
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	domestic duties
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	5 years	7 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of William Tulloch, Tancred Street, Ashburton
Folio	07/1114
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Peters

192

22 March 1907

William Thomas Begg
Lily Nicholas

William Thomas Begg
Lily Nicholas
💍 1907/3390

Bachelor
Spinster

Overseer
domestic duties

26
24

Eiffelton
Greenstreet

12 years
24 years

St. Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

07/1315

23 March 1907

E. Whitehouse

No	192
Date of Notice	22 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Begg	Lily Nicholas
	💍 1907/3390
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Overseer	domestic duties
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Eiffelton	Greenstreet
Length of Residence	12 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	07/1315
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1907
Officiating Minister	E. Whitehouse

193

23 March 1907

Alfred Burtis Forsyth
Alice Josephine Forsyth

Alfred Curtis
Alice Josephine Forsyth
💍 1907/1015

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

37
36

Winchmore
Winchmore

4 years
4 years

St. Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

07/1110

23 March 1907

E. Whitehouse

No	193
Date of Notice	23 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Burtis Forsyth	Alice Josephine Forsyth
BDM Match (79%)	Alfred Curtis	Alice Josephine Forsyth
	💍 1907/1015
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	37	36
Dwelling Place	Winchmore	Winchmore
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	07/1110
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1907
Officiating Minister	E. Whitehouse

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).