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 464

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 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

382

31 July 1907

David Ritchie
Mary Hopwood

David Ritchie
Mary Hopwood
💍 1907/6043

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

27 years
20 years

Abbotsford
Abbotsford

3 days
15 years

In the house of Mr. Sara L. J. Hopwood, Abbotsford

07/6076

Sarah Jane Hopwood, Mother

31 July 1907

John Kilpatrick

No	382
Date of Notice	31 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Ritchie	Mary Hopwood
	💍 1907/6043
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	27 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Abbotsford	Abbotsford
Length of Residence	3 days	15 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Sara L. J. Hopwood, Abbotsford
Folio	07/6076
Consent	Sarah Jane Hopwood, Mother
Date of Certificate	31 July 1907
Officiating Minister	John Kilpatrick

383

31 July 1907

Robert Fife Tait
Mary Hislop Vallance

Robert Fife Tait
Mary Hislop Vallance
💍 1907/5842

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

33 years
32 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
10 years

In the house of Mr. Wm. E. Toase, 104 Great King Street, Dunedin

07/5846

31 July 1907

C. H. Laws

No	383
Date of Notice	31 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Fife Tait	Mary Hislop Vallance
	💍 1907/5842
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	33 years	32 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Wm. E. Toase, 104 Great King Street, Dunedin
Folio	07/5846
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1907
Officiating Minister	C. H. Laws

384

31 July 1907

Arthur Murray Sidey
Nellie Adeline Hall

Arthur Murray Tidey
Nellie Adeline Hall
💍 1907/5834

Widower
Spinster

Sharebroker

39 years
30 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

10 years
4 years

In the house of Mr. John Sidey, Corstorphine, Caversham

07/5814

31 July 1907

D. Dutton

No	384
Date of Notice	31 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Murray Sidey	Nellie Adeline Hall
BDM Match (97%)	Arthur Murray Tidey	Nellie Adeline Hall
	💍 1907/5834
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Sharebroker
Age	39 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	10 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. John Sidey, Corstorphine, Caversham
Folio	07/5814
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1907
Officiating Minister	D. Dutton

385

31 July 1907

John Joseph Cousins
Isabella Mutch

John Joseph Cousins
Isabella Mutch
💍 1907/5771

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Tailoress

20 years
22 years

Caversham
North East Valley

3 years
3 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

07/5767

Samuel Cousins, Father

31 July 1907

H. Maxwell

No	385
Date of Notice	31 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Cousins	Isabella Mutch
	💍 1907/5771
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Tailoress
Age	20 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	North East Valley
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	07/5767
Consent	Samuel Cousins, Father
Date of Certificate	31 July 1907
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

386

1 August 1907

Ernest Warren
Mary Wallace Andrew

Ernest Warren
Mary Wallace Andrew
💍 1907/5845

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

22 years
23 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

22 years
23 years

In the house of Mr. E. Warren, 7 Scotland Street, Dunedin

07/5849

1 August 1907

C. H. Laws

No	386
Date of Notice	1 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Warren	Mary Wallace Andrew
	💍 1907/5845
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	22 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	22 years	23 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. E. Warren, 7 Scotland Street, Dunedin
Folio	07/5849
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1907
Officiating Minister	C. H. Laws

387

2 August 1907

William Wallace Scott
Eliza Mudie

William Wallace Scott
Eliza Mudie
💍 1907/5779

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer

31 years
26 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

07/5768

2 August 1907

H. Maxwell

No	387
Date of Notice	2 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Wallace Scott	Eliza Mudie
	💍 1907/5779
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer
Age	31 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	07/5768
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1907
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

388

2 August 1907

John Landreth
Mary Geary Weir

John Landreth
Mary Geary Weir
💍 1907/5802

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31 years
22 years

Highcliff
Sandymount

31 years
22 years

In the house of Mr. Robert Weir, Sandymount

07/5805

2 August 1907

John Erwin

No	388
Date of Notice	2 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Landreth	Mary Geary Weir
	💍 1907/5802
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Highcliff	Sandymount
Length of Residence	31 years	22 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Robert Weir, Sandymount
Folio	07/5805
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1907
Officiating Minister	John Erwin

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).