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 160

District of Ellesmere Quarter ending 30 September 1907 Registrar C. J. Denby

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

1 July 1907

Joseph Edward Millar
Annie McCann

Joseph Edward Millar
Annie McCann
💍 1907/5677

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic

23
22

Irwell
Leeston

23 years
7 years

Mrs John Lochhead house Leeston

07/5659

1 July 1907

Rev. W. H. Orbell

No	19
Date of Notice	1 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Edward Millar	Annie McCann
	💍 1907/5677
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Irwell	Leeston
Length of Residence	23 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Mrs John Lochhead house Leeston
Folio	07/5659
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Orbell

5 July 1907

Joseph McFarland
Winifred Wallace

Joseph McFarland
Winifred Wallace
💍 1907/3763

Bachelor
Divorced

Farmer

57
44

Southbridge
Southbridge

30 years
2 years

Registrars Office Christchurch

07/5490

5 July 1907

Registrar

No	20
Date of Notice	5 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph McFarland	Winifred Wallace
	💍 1907/3763
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Farmer
Age	57	44
Dwelling Place	Southbridge	Southbridge
Length of Residence	30 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Christchurch
Folio	07/5490
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Registrar

13 July 1907

John McConaghey
Martha Jane Patterson

John McConaghey
Martha Jane Patterson
💍 1907/5674

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

23
23

Doyleston
Taumutu

15 years
14 years

Wesleyan Church, Taumutu

07/5656

13 July 1907

Rev. T. E. Thomas

No	21
Date of Notice	13 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McConaghey	Martha Jane Patterson
	💍 1907/5674
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Doyleston	Taumutu
Length of Residence	15 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Taumutu
Folio	07/5656
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. E. Thomas

29 July 1907

Charles Gabsworthy Heard
Lilian Annie Baker

Charles Galsworthy Heard
Lilian Annie Baker
💍 1907/5675

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Dressmaker

26
21

Leeston
Leeston

3 years
21 years

Roman Catholic Church, Leeston

07/5657

29 July 1907

Rev. W. A. Hanan

No	22
Date of Notice	29 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Gabsworthy Heard	Lilian Annie Baker
BDM Match (96%)	Charles Galsworthy Heard	Lilian Annie Baker
	💍 1907/5675
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Dressmaker
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Leeston	Leeston
Length of Residence	3 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Leeston
Folio	07/5657
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Hanan

9 September 1907

Hugh Alexander Millar
Sara Allen

Hugh Alexander Millar
Sara Allen
💍 1907/5676

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
28

Killinchy
Killinchy

3 years
28 years

St. James Church, Brookside

07/5658

9 September 1907

Rev. P. C. Durward

No	23
Date of Notice	9 September 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Alexander Millar	Sara Allen
	💍 1907/5676
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Killinchy	Killinchy
Length of Residence	3 years	28 years
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Brookside
Folio	07/5658
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 September 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. C. Durward

13 September 1907

John Armit Scott
Jean Jamieson Rennie

John Armit Scott
Jean Jamieson Rennie
💍 1907/5678

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

32
26

Brookside
Doyleston

32 years
26 years

Presbyterian Church, Leeston

07/5660

13 September 1907

Rev. P. C. Durward

No	24
Date of Notice	13 September 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Armit Scott	Jean Jamieson Rennie
	💍 1907/5678
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Brookside	Doyleston
Length of Residence	32 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Leeston
Folio	07/5660
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 September 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. C. Durward

24 September 1907

Thomas Walter Flannery
Elizabeth Sandison Petrie

Thomas Walter Flannery
Eliza Sandison Petrie
💍 1907/7694

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Agent

28
27

Leeston
Brookside

28 years
27 years

James Petries House Brookside

07/7564

24 September 1907

Rev. P. C. Durward

No	25
Date of Notice	24 September 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Walter Flannery	Elizabeth Sandison Petrie
BDM Match (92%)	Thomas Walter Flannery	Eliza Sandison Petrie
	💍 1907/7694
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Agent
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Leeston	Brookside
Length of Residence	28 years	27 years
Marriage Place	James Petries House Brookside
Folio	07/7564
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 September 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. C. Durward

24 September 1907

William John McMillan
Mary Walker

William John McMillan
Mary Walker
💍 1907/5679

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
21

Methven
Selwyn

6 months
12 years

St. James Church, Brookside

07/5661

24 September 1907

Rev. P. C. Durward

No	26
Date of Notice	24 September 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John McMillan	Mary Walker
	💍 1907/5679
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Methven	Selwyn
Length of Residence	6 months	12 years
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Brookside
Folio	07/5661
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 September 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. C. Durward

27 September 1907

William Arthur Taylor
Hannah Elizabeth Russell

William Arthur Taylor
Hannah Elizabeth Russell
💍 1907/5681

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

28
20

Brookside
Brookside

28 years
11 years

Mary Ann Russell's House, Brookside

07/5662

Mary Anne Russell Mother

27 September 1907

Rev. T. E. Thomas

No	27
Date of Notice	27 September 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur Taylor	Hannah Elizabeth Russell
	💍 1907/5681
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Brookside	Brookside
Length of Residence	28 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Mary Ann Russell's House, Brookside
Folio	07/5662
Consent	Mary Anne Russell Mother
Date of Certificate	27 September 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. E. Thomas

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).