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 456

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

330

24 June 1907

Walter Henry Dawson Stothart
Annie Mary Allen

Walter Henry Dawson Stothart
Annie Mary Allen
💍 1907/3401

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

25
34

Caversham
Caversham

14 years
28 years

In the Presbyterian Church, Caversham

07/4171

24 June 1907

D. Dutton

No	330
Date of Notice	24 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Henry Dawson Stothart	Annie Mary Allen
	💍 1907/3401
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	25	34
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Caversham
Length of Residence	14 years	28 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church, Caversham
Folio	07/4171
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1907
Officiating Minister	D. Dutton

331

25 June 1907

William Glenn
Catherine Helen Docherty

William Glenn
Catherine Helen Docherty
💍 1907/6063

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Saleswoman

36
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
14 years

In the house of Mr. H. C. Docherty, 123 Moray Place, Dunedin

07/3636

25 June 1907

Wm. Hewitson

No	331
Date of Notice	25 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Glenn	Catherine Helen Docherty
	💍 1907/6063
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Saleswoman
Age	36	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	14 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. H. C. Docherty, 123 Moray Place, Dunedin
Folio	07/3636
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 June 1907
Officiating Minister	Wm. Hewitson

332

25 June 1907

Edward Frederick Joseph Hamilton
Annie Leigh Nagle

Edward Frederick Joseph Hamilton
Annie Laigh Nagle
💍 1907/3365

Bachelor
Widow

Carpenter

53
37

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 week
1 week

In St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin

07/3973

25 June 1907

Jas. Coffey

No	332
Date of Notice	25 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Frederick Joseph Hamilton	Annie Leigh Nagle
BDM Match (97%)	Edward Frederick Joseph Hamilton	Annie Laigh Nagle
	💍 1907/3365
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Carpenter
Age	53	37
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	In St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	07/3973
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 June 1907
Officiating Minister	Jas. Coffey

333

26 June 1907

Edward James Fahey
Mary Ann Williams

Edward James Fahey
Mary Ann Williams
💍 1907/3364

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Tailoress

32
34

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
34 years

In St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin

07/3972

26 June 1907

Jas. Coffey

No	333
Date of Notice	26 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward James Fahey	Mary Ann Williams
	💍 1907/3364
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Tailoress
Age	32	34
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	34 years
Marriage Place	In St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	07/3972
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 June 1907
Officiating Minister	Jas. Coffey

334

26 June 1907

William McLeod
Margaret Ann Aitken

William McLeod
Margaret Ann Aitken
💍 1907/6045

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

33
26

Caversham
Dunedin

12 months
3 days

In the Presbyterian Church, South Dunedin

07/3642

26 June 1907

R. Mackie

No	334
Date of Notice	26 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McLeod	Margaret Ann Aitken
	💍 1907/6045
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Dunedin
Length of Residence	12 months	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church, South Dunedin
Folio	07/3642
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 June 1907
Officiating Minister	R. Mackie

335

27 June 1907

William Jonathan Frost
Mary Ellen Gooseman

William Jonathan Frost
Mary Ellen Gooseman
💍 1907/6064

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
21 years

In the house of Mr. John W. Gooseman, 24 Howard Street, Dunedin

07/3637

27 June 1907

Wm. Hewitson

No	335
Date of Notice	27 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Jonathan Frost	Mary Ellen Gooseman
	💍 1907/6064
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. John W. Gooseman, 24 Howard Street, Dunedin
Folio	07/3637
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1907
Officiating Minister	Wm. Hewitson

336

27 June 1907

Sydney George Styche
Isabella Mackay

Sydney George Styche
Isabella Mackay
💍 1907/5801

Bachelor
Spinster

Shipping Clerk

32
26

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
26 years

In the house of Mr. Arch. Miller, 12 Pitt Street, Dunedin

07/5804

27 June 1907

Thos. Nisbet

No	336
Date of Notice	27 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney George Styche	Isabella Mackay
	💍 1907/5801
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shipping Clerk
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	26 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Arch. Miller, 12 Pitt Street, Dunedin
Folio	07/5804
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1907
Officiating Minister	Thos. Nisbet

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).