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 017

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 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

210

24 April 1907

David Burgess
Margaret Grieve Terris

David Burgess
Margaret Grieve Terris
💍 1907/3194

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm laborer
domestic duties

34
27

Longbeach
Ashburton

11 years
12 years

The Presbyterian Manse, Ashburton

07/3235

24 April 1907

Rev G. B. Inglis

No	210
Date of Notice	24 April 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Burgess	Margaret Grieve Terris
	💍 1907/3194
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm laborer	domestic duties
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Longbeach	Ashburton
Length of Residence	11 years	12 years
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Manse, Ashburton
Folio	07/3235
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev G. B. Inglis

211

26 April 1907

George Herbert Cow
Evangeline Elizabeth Hayman

George Herbert Cone
Evangeline Elizabeth Hayman
💍 1907/3309

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

55
30

Ashburton
Willowby

3 days
30 years

Wesleyan Church at Willowby

07/3937

26 April 1907

Rev C. H. Standage

No	211
Date of Notice	26 April 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Herbert Cow	Evangeline Elizabeth Hayman
BDM Match (95%)	George Herbert Cone	Evangeline Elizabeth Hayman
	💍 1907/3309
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	55	30
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Willowby
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church at Willowby
Folio	07/3937
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev C. H. Standage

212

13 May 1907

Hugh Donaldson
Margaret Small

Hugh Donaldson
Margaret Small
💍 1907/3752

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

28
22

Waterton
Wheatstone

2 months
22 years

The Roman Catholic Presbytery, Ashburton

07/5480

13 May 1907

Rev J. J. O'Donnell

No	212
Date of Notice	13 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Donaldson	Margaret Small
	💍 1907/3752
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Waterton	Wheatstone
Length of Residence	2 months	22 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Presbytery, Ashburton
Folio	07/5480
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev J. J. O'Donnell

213

14 May 1907

Albert Joseph Mace
Edith Ann Smith

Albert Joseph Mace
Edith Ann Smith
💍 1907/3391

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
dress-maker

24
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

2 days
6 days

At the dwelling of Mr James Smith, Moore Street, Ashburton

07/4136

14 May 1907

Rev E. Whitehouse

No	213
Date of Notice	14 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Joseph Mace	Edith Ann Smith
	💍 1907/3391
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	dress-maker
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	2 days	6 days
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of Mr James Smith, Moore Street, Ashburton
Folio	07/4136
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev E. Whitehouse

214

15 May 1907

Charles Fahey
Julia Breen

Charles Fahey
Julia Breen
💍 1907/3751

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
domestic duties

23
21

Ashburton
Ashburton

6 weeks
51 years

The Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

07/5479

15 May 1907

Very Rev. J. J. O'Donnell

No	214
Date of Notice	15 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Fahey	Julia Breen
	💍 1907/3751
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	6 weeks	51 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	07/5479
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. J. J. O'Donnell

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).