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 283

District of Temuka Quarter ending 30 September 1907 Registrar Arthur Augustus Winterburn

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

24 July 1907

John Baragwanath
Evelyn Kimber

John Baragwanath
Evelyn Kimber
💍 1907/5960

Widower
Spinster

Schoolmaster

47
41

Temuka
Timaru

7 years
30 years

Residence of Miss Kimber, 42 Craigies Avenue, Timaru

07/5992

24 July 1907

Rev A Hunt

No	22
Date of Notice	24 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Baragwanath	Evelyn Kimber
	💍 1907/5960
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster
Age	47	41
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Timaru
Length of Residence	7 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Miss Kimber, 42 Craigies Avenue, Timaru
Folio	07/5992
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev A Hunt

31 July 1907

Neil McKinnon
Helen Todd Franklyn

Neil McKinrow
Helen Todd Franklin
💍 1907/3823

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

44
33

Waitohi Downs
Waitohi

21 years
4 years

Presbyterian Manse, Temuka

07/5701

31 July 1907

Rev C Macdonald

No	23
Date of Notice	31 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neil McKinnon	Helen Todd Franklyn
BDM Match (90%)	Neil McKinrow	Helen Todd Franklin
	💍 1907/3823
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	44	33
Dwelling Place	Waitohi Downs	Waitohi
Length of Residence	21 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Temuka
Folio	07/5701
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev C Macdonald

5 August 1907

John Henry Edgar
Lily Ellen Snell

John Henry Edgar
Lily Ellen Snell
💍 1907/3824

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
24

Rangitata
Winchester

27 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Temuka

07/5702

5 August 1907

Rev C Macdonald

No	24
Date of Notice	5 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Edgar	Lily Ellen Snell
	💍 1907/3824
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Rangitata	Winchester
Length of Residence	27 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Temuka
Folio	07/5702
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev C Macdonald

24 August 1907

Robert Albinus Watt
Ida Grace Harrison

Robert Albinus Watt
Ida Grace Harrison
💍 1907/8103

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

24
20

Temuka
Temuka

12 months
9 years

St. Peter's Church, Temuka

07/8206

John Harrison, father

24 August 1907

Rev W C McDonald

No	25
Date of Notice	24 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Albinus Watt	Ida Grace Harrison
	💍 1907/8103
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	12 months	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Temuka
Folio	07/8206
Consent	John Harrison, father
Date of Certificate	24 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev W C McDonald

27 August 1907

Albert Frank Kennett
Eliza Williams

Albert Frank Kennett
Eliza Williams
💍 1907/3846

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic Servant

22
23

Rakaia
Temuka

2 months

Primitive Methodist Church, Temuka

07/5700

27 August 1907

Rev J Coatsworth

No	26
Date of Notice	27 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Frank Kennett	Eliza Williams
	💍 1907/3846
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic Servant
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Rakaia	Temuka
Length of Residence	2 months
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Temuka
Folio	07/5700
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev J Coatsworth

9 September 1907

John Robert White
Hannah Roseby Richardson Carr Watson

John Robert White
Hannah Roseby Carr Richardson Watson
💍 1907/3825

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

30
28

Temuka
Temuka

3 days
14 days

Residence of Mr. James Hooper, Temuka

07/5703

9 September 1907

Rev J Haslam

No	27
Date of Notice	9 September 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robert White	Hannah Roseby Richardson Carr Watson
BDM Match (86%)	John Robert White	Hannah Roseby Carr Richardson Watson
	💍 1907/3825
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. James Hooper, Temuka
Folio	07/5703
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 September 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev J Haslam

10 September 1907

Joseph Collins
Mary Agnes Horgan

Joseph Collins
Mary Agnes Horgan
💍 1907/5958

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

34
33

Temuka
Temuka

34 years
30 years

In the Vestry of Roman Catholic Church, Temuka

07/5990

10 September 1907

Rev J Kerley

No	28
Date of Notice	10 September 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Collins	Mary Agnes Horgan
	💍 1907/5958
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	34 years	30 years
Marriage Place	In the Vestry of Roman Catholic Church, Temuka
Folio	07/5990
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 September 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev J Kerley

10 September 1907

Thomas Spillane
Mary Ellen Hamilton

Thomas Spillane
Mary Ellen Hamilton
💍 1907/5959

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

31
26

Temuka
Temuka

31 years
26 years

Roman Catholic Church, Temuka

07/5991

10 September 1907

Rev J Kerley

No	29
Date of Notice	10 September 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Spillane	Mary Ellen Hamilton
	💍 1907/5959
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	31 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Temuka
Folio	07/5991
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 September 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev J Kerley

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).