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 021

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 1907 Registrar William Wilsbury 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

374

1 July 1907

James Morris
Margaret Rennie

James Morris
Margaret Rennie
💍 1907/3769

Bachelor
Spinster

Surfaceman
domestic duties

28
21

Hinds
Hinds

28 years
21 years

at the dwelling of William Knoy Rennie at Hinds

07/5473

1 July 1907

Rev. J. C. Paterson M.A.

No	374
Date of Notice	1 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Morris	Margaret Rennie
	💍 1907/3769
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman	domestic duties
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Hinds	Hinds
Length of Residence	28 years	21 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of William Knoy Rennie at Hinds
Folio	07/5473
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Paterson M.A.

375

11 July 1907

Walter Thomas Oakley
Caroline Christensen

Walter Thomas Oakley
Caroline Christensen
💍 1907/3766

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

25
26

Mayfield
Mayfield

4 Months
26 years

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

07/5470

11 July 1907

Rev. A. B. Inglis

No	375
Date of Notice	11 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Thomas Oakley	Caroline Christensen
	💍 1907/3766
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Mayfield	Mayfield
Length of Residence	4 Months	26 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	07/5470
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Inglis

376

15 July 1907

William Aubrey Manwaring White
Letitia Dionysia Eden

William Aubrey Manwaring White
Letitia Dionysia Eden
💍 1907/3772

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet maker
domestic duties

24
23

Ashburton
Ashburton

18 months
23 years

at the dwelling of Rev R. J. Liddell, Ashburton

07/5476

15 July 1907

Rev. R. J. Liddell

No	376
Date of Notice	15 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Aubrey Manwaring White	Letitia Dionysia Eden
	💍 1907/3772
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet maker	domestic duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	18 months	23 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of Rev R. J. Liddell, Ashburton
Folio	07/5476
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Liddell

377

15 July 1907

Lewis Morris Thomas Williams
Elizabeth Florence Saudoe

Lewis Morris Thomas Williams
Elizabeth Florence Sandor
💍 1907/5952

Bachelor
Spinster

Pharmaceutical Chemist
domestic duties

28
27

Ashburton
Ashburton

6 years
27 years

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

07/6007

15 July 1907

Rev E. Whitehouse

No	377
Date of Notice	15 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Morris Thomas Williams	Elizabeth Florence Saudoe
BDM Match (96%)	Lewis Morris Thomas Williams	Elizabeth Florence Sandor
	💍 1907/5952
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pharmaceutical Chemist	domestic duties
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	6 years	27 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	07/6007
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev E. Whitehouse

378

29 July 1907

Henry William Gillies
Lily Kohleis

Henry William Gillies
Lily Kohleis
💍 1907/3813

Divorced
Widow

Platelayer
domestic duties

39
34

Ashburton
Ashburton

2 years
2 years

at the Office of the Registrar Ashburton

07/5466

29 July 1907

W. W. White Registrar

No	378
Date of Notice	29 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry William Gillies	Lily Kohleis
	💍 1907/3813
Condition	Divorced	Widow
Profession	Platelayer	domestic duties
Age	39	34
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	at the Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	07/5466
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 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).