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 214

District of Malvern Quarter ending 30 June 1907 Registrar A. C. Truman

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

15 April 1907

Thomas Salmond Innes
Maggie Gamble

Thomas Salmond Innes
Maggie Gamble
💍 1907/4211

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

35
24

Waddington
Waddington

9 years
24 years

Residence of Mr. C. Gamble, Waddington

07/3390

15 April 1907

Rev. Jas. Maxwell

No	2
Date of Notice	15 April 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Salmond Innes	Maggie Gamble
	💍 1907/4211
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Waddington	Waddington
Length of Residence	9 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. C. Gamble, Waddington
Folio	07/3390
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Maxwell

18 April 1907

William Ernest Phillips
Daisy Ellen Pole

William Ernest Phillips
Daisy Ellen Pole
💍 1907/2825

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic Duties

36
21

Waddington
Waddington

12 years
18 years

Residence of Mr. J. L. P. Pole, Waddington

07/3464

18 April 1907

Rev. B. Dudley

No	3
Date of Notice	18 April 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ernest Phillips	Daisy Ellen Pole
	💍 1907/2825
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic Duties
Age	36	21
Dwelling Place	Waddington	Waddington
Length of Residence	12 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. L. P. Pole, Waddington
Folio	07/3464
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 April 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Dudley

4 May 1907

Edward George Lapthorn
Sarah Ellen Jones

Edward George Lapthorn
Sarah Ellen Joines
💍 1907/8140

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

19
19

Springfield
Springfield

3 months
19 years

St. Peters Church, Springfield

07/8260

There is no person resident in the Colony having authority to give consent. Thomas Jones, Father.

4 May 1907

Rev. E. H. Shore

No	4
Date of Notice	4 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward George Lapthorn	Sarah Ellen Jones
BDM Match (97%)	Edward George Lapthorn	Sarah Ellen Joines
	💍 1907/8140
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Springfield	Springfield
Length of Residence	3 months	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Springfield
Folio	07/8260
Consent	There is no person resident in the Colony having authority to give consent. Thomas Jones, Father.
Date of Certificate	4 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. H. Shore

14 May 1907

James Carrick McLellan
Ethel May Pope

James Carrick McLellan
Ethel May Pope
💍 1907/3414

Bachelor
Spinster

Letter Carrier
Dressmaker

25
23

Lyttelton
Kowai Bush

23 years
23 years

Residence of Mr. J. Pope, Kowai Bush

07/4159

14 May 1907

Rev. W. A. Kyd

No	5
Date of Notice	14 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Carrick McLellan	Ethel May Pope
	💍 1907/3414
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Letter Carrier	Dressmaker
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Kowai Bush
Length of Residence	23 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Pope, Kowai Bush
Folio	07/4159
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Kyd

25 May 1907

Charles Robert Eastgate
Annie Willis

Charles Robert Eastgate
Annie Willis
💍 1907/8108

Widower
Spinster

Baker
Domestic Duties

37
29

Taylorville
Sheffield

6 months
29 years

St. Ambrose Church, Sheffield

07/8237

25 May 1907

Rev. Otho Fitzgerald

No	6
Date of Notice	25 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Robert Eastgate	Annie Willis
	💍 1907/8108
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic Duties
Age	37	29
Dwelling Place	Taylorville	Sheffield
Length of Residence	6 months	29 years
Marriage Place	St. Ambrose Church, Sheffield
Folio	07/8237
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Otho Fitzgerald

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).