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 438

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 June 1907 Registrar Henry Maxwell

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

220

11 April 1907

Henry Mechen
Martha Parlane

Henry Mechen
Martha Parlane
💍 1907/4399

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34 years
32 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

07/3584

11 April 1907

H. Maxwell

No	220
Date of Notice	11 April 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Mechen	Martha Parlane
	💍 1907/4399
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34 years	32 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	07/3584
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1907
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

221

13 April 1907

Walter Steers
May Walsh

Walter Steers
Mary Walsh
💍 1907/4605

Bachelor
Spinster

Seedsman

20 years
22 years

North East Valley
Dunedin

3 years
18 years

In the Vestry of St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin

07/3964

Robert Steers, father

13 April 1907

Jas. Coffey

No	221
Date of Notice	13 April 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Steers	May Walsh
BDM Match (95%)	Walter Steers	Mary Walsh
	💍 1907/4605
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seedsman
Age	20 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	North East Valley	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	18 years
Marriage Place	In the Vestry of St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	07/3964
Consent	Robert Steers, father
Date of Certificate	13 April 1907
Officiating Minister	Jas. Coffey

222

13 April 1907

Charles Gavin Duffy
Clara Annie Cummings

Charles Gavin Duffy
Clara Annie Cummings
💍 1907/4394

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Tailoress

29 years
28 years

Dunedin
Maori Hill

6 years
3 years

In All Saints Church, Dunedin

07/3602

13 April 1907

H. H. Bedford

No	222
Date of Notice	13 April 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Gavin Duffy	Clara Annie Cummings
	💍 1907/4394
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Tailoress
Age	29 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Maori Hill
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In All Saints Church, Dunedin
Folio	07/3602
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1907
Officiating Minister	H. H. Bedford

223

15 April 1907

Cyril Peter Roberts
Mary Elizabeth Ure

Cyril Peter Roberts
Mary Elizabeth Ure
💍 1907/3228

Bachelor
Spinster

Watchmaker

26 years
24 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In St. Peter's Church, Caversham

07/3670

15 April 1907

V. G. B. King

No	223
Date of Notice	15 April 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Peter Roberts	Mary Elizabeth Ure
	💍 1907/3228
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker
Age	26 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In St. Peter's Church, Caversham
Folio	07/3670
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1907
Officiating Minister	V. G. B. King

224

15 April 1907

Robert Stephen
Jane Walker

Robert Stephen
Jane Walker
💍 1907/3150

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

26 years
25 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

7 years
5 years

In the First Church, Dunedin

07/3616

15 April 1907

T. Nisbet

No	224
Date of Notice	15 April 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Stephen	Jane Walker
	💍 1907/3150
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	26 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the First Church, Dunedin
Folio	07/3616
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1907
Officiating Minister	T. Nisbet

225

15 April 1907

David McGregor Feathers
Mary Brown

David McGregor Feathers
Mary Brown
💍 1907/6060

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist

35 years
26 years

North East Valley
Roslyn

20 years
6 months

In the house of Mrs. C. Brown, 20 Gamma Street, Roslyn

07/3656

15 April 1907

D. Borrie

No	225
Date of Notice	15 April 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David McGregor Feathers	Mary Brown
	💍 1907/6060
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist
Age	35 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	North East Valley	Roslyn
Length of Residence	20 years	6 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs. C. Brown, 20 Gamma Street, Roslyn
Folio	07/3656
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1907
Officiating Minister	D. Borrie

226

15 April 1907

David Auld
Janet McEwan Comrie

David Auld
Janet McEwen Connie
💍 1907/4623

Widower
Spinster

Coal Merchant

36 years
36 years

Dunedin
North East Valley

15 years
10 years

In the house of Mr. David Comrie, Gladstone Road, North East Valley

07/4009

15 April 1907

J. K. McIntyre

No	226
Date of Notice	15 April 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Auld	Janet McEwan Comrie
BDM Match (92%)	David Auld	Janet McEwen Connie
	💍 1907/4623
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Coal Merchant
Age	36 years	36 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	North East Valley
Length of Residence	15 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. David Comrie, Gladstone Road, North East Valley
Folio	07/4009
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1907
Officiating Minister	J. K. McIntyre

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).