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 206

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 30 September 1907 Registrar William Dryburgh Wallace

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

16 July 1907

John Alexander Allison Brown
Emily Florence Timms

John Alexander Allison Brown
Emily Florence Timms
💍 1907/5696

Bachelor

Laborer

22
21

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

22 years
18 months

The house of Mary Ann Brown, Jackson's Road, Lyttelton

07/5678

16 July 1907

Rev. Alfred Peters (Methodist)

No	22
Date of Notice	16 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander Allison Brown	Emily Florence Timms
	💍 1907/5696
Condition	Bachelor
Profession	Laborer
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	22 years	18 months
Marriage Place	The house of Mary Ann Brown, Jackson's Road, Lyttelton
Folio	07/5678
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Peters (Methodist)

1 August 1907

Hugh John Simpson
Ellen May Firmston

Hugh John Simpson
Ellen May Firmston
💍 1907/5695

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Laborer

24
18

Charteris Bay
Seddington

24 years
2 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Lyttelton

07/5677

William Henry Firmston (Father)

1 August 1907

W. D. Wallace, Registrar of Marriages

No	23
Date of Notice	1 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh John Simpson	Ellen May Firmston
	💍 1907/5695
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Laborer
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Charteris Bay	Seddington
Length of Residence	24 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Lyttelton
Folio	07/5677
Consent	William Henry Firmston (Father)
Date of Certificate	1 August 1907
Officiating Minister	W. D. Wallace, Registrar of Marriages

2 August 1907

Alexander Fullen
Agnes Young

Alexander Fullen
Agnes Young
💍 1907/5715

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Dressmaker

29
29

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

14 days
6 months

The house of Mary Young, Bridle-Path, Lyttelton

07/5674

2 August 1907

Rev. J. A. C. Connell (Roman Catholic)

No	24
Date of Notice	2 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Fullen	Agnes Young
	💍 1907/5715
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Dressmaker
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	14 days	6 months
Marriage Place	The house of Mary Young, Bridle-Path, Lyttelton
Folio	07/5674
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. C. Connell (Roman Catholic)

5 August 1907

John Hugh Chases Davies
Euphemia McNaughton Radcliffe

John Hugh Clucas Davies
Euphemia McNaughton Radcliffe
💍 1907/5697

Bachelor
Spinster

Auctioneer

26
21

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

2 days
21 years

The Wesleyan Church, Lyttelton

07/5679

5 August 1907

Rev. Alfred Peters (Methodist)

No	25
Date of Notice	5 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hugh Chases Davies	Euphemia McNaughton Radcliffe
BDM Match (91%)	John Hugh Clucas Davies	Euphemia McNaughton Radcliffe
	💍 1907/5697
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	2 days	21 years
Marriage Place	The Wesleyan Church, Lyttelton
Folio	07/5679
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Peters (Methodist)

12 August 1907

Thomas Vincent Cooney
Mary Jane Gertrude Bamford

Thomas Vincent Cooney
Mary Jane Gertrude Bamford
💍 1907/5716

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
29

Governor's Bay
Governor's Bay

4 days
29 years

The Roman Catholic Church, Lyttelton

07/5675

12 August 1907

Rev. J. A. C. Connell (Roman Catholic)

No	26
Date of Notice	12 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Vincent Cooney	Mary Jane Gertrude Bamford
	💍 1907/5716
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Governor's Bay	Governor's Bay
Length of Residence	4 days	29 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church, Lyttelton
Folio	07/5675
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. C. Connell (Roman Catholic)

19 August 1907

William Patrick McGinity
Ruby Violet James

William Patrick McGinity
Ruby Violet James
💍 1907/5698

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker

25
17

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

3 months
17 years

The house of Andrew Christensen, Lichfield Road, Lyttelton

07/5680

James (Father)

19 August 1907

Rev. Alfred Peters (Methodist)

No	27
Date of Notice	19 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Patrick McGinity	Ruby Violet James
	💍 1907/5698
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker
Age	25	17
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 months	17 years
Marriage Place	The house of Andrew Christensen, Lichfield Road, Lyttelton
Folio	07/5680
Consent	James (Father)
Date of Certificate	19 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Peters (Methodist)

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).