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 239

District of OXFORD Quarter ending 30 June 1907 Registrar James Alexr. Boswell

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

19 April 1907

Thomas Holmes
Ada Ellen Simpson

Thomas Holmes
Ada Ellen Simpson
💍 1907/4542

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Duties

22
22

Christchurch
View Hill

4 1/2 yrs
22 yrs

St. Andrews Anglican Church East Oxford

07/3877

19 April 1907

Rev. R. F. Garbett

No	4
Date of Notice	19 April 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Holmes	Ada Ellen Simpson
	💍 1907/4542
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	View Hill
Length of Residence	4 1/2 yrs	22 yrs
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Anglican Church East Oxford
Folio	07/3877
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. F. Garbett

22 April 1907

Aylmer Rattray
Ethel Candy

Aylmer Rattray
Ethel Candy
💍 1907/4543

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
20

Gisborne
Oxford

2 months
20 years

St. Mary's Anglican Church Oxford

07/3878

James Candy Father

25 April 1907

Rev. R. F. Garbett

No	5
Date of Notice	22 April 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Aylmer Rattray	Ethel Candy
	💍 1907/4543
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Oxford
Length of Residence	2 months	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church Oxford
Folio	07/3878
Consent	James Candy Father
Date of Certificate	25 April 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. F. Garbett

14 May 1907

Patrick O'Connor
Mary Reid

Patrick O'Connor
Mary Reid
💍 1907/4565

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Duties

34
32

Bennetts
Bennetts

7 months
32 yrs

St. Andrews Church East Oxford

07/3876

14 May 1907

Rev. R.F. Garbett

No	6
Date of Notice	14 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick O'Connor	Mary Reid
	💍 1907/4565
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Bennetts	Bennetts
Length of Residence	7 months	32 yrs
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church East Oxford
Folio	07/3876
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R.F. Garbett

1 June 1907

William Mathew Reynolds
Rebecca Flora Whyte

William Matthew Reynolds
Rebecca Flora Whyte
💍 1907/3394

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic Duties

27
22

Oxford
Oxford

3 yrs
22 yrs

Methodist Church Oxford

07/4139

1 June 1907

Rev. J. R. Clark

No	7
Date of Notice	1 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Mathew Reynolds	Rebecca Flora Whyte
BDM Match (98%)	William Matthew Reynolds	Rebecca Flora Whyte
	💍 1907/3394
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Oxford	Oxford
Length of Residence	3 yrs	22 yrs
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Oxford
Folio	07/4139
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Clark

8 June 1907

Thomas Sherlock
Cecilia McGrath

Thomas Sherlock
Cecilia McGrath
💍 1907/4290

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Domestic Duties

22
18

Oxford
Oxford

13 months
18 yrs

Catholic Church Oxford

07/3471

Patrick McGrath Father

8 June 1907

Rev. Father W. Hyland

No	8
Date of Notice	8 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Sherlock	Cecilia McGrath
	💍 1907/4290
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Domestic Duties
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Oxford	Oxford
Length of Residence	13 months	18 yrs
Marriage Place	Catholic Church Oxford
Folio	07/3471
Consent	Patrick McGrath Father
Date of Certificate	8 June 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father W. Hyland

15 June 1907

Harold Lundy Yorke
Onra Louisa Powell

Harold Lundy Yorke
Onra Louisa Powell
💍 1907/2857

Widower
Spinster

Hotel Keeper
Domestic Duties

29
22

East Oxford
East Oxford

3 yrs
22 yrs

Catholic Church Oxford

07/3472

15 June 1907

Rev. Father W. Hyland

No	9
Date of Notice	15 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Lundy Yorke	Onra Louisa Powell
	💍 1907/2857
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Keeper	Domestic Duties
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	East Oxford	East Oxford
Length of Residence	3 yrs	22 yrs
Marriage Place	Catholic Church Oxford
Folio	07/3472
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father W. Hyland

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).