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 545

District of Gabriels Quarter ending 31 March 1907 Registrar A. M. Eyes

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

183

7 January 1907

Robert Robertson
Mary Elizabeth Quilter

Robert Robertson
Mary Elizabeth Quilter
💍 1907/1551

Widower
Widow

Borough Ranger
Housekeeper

42
51

Lawrence
Lawrence

42 years
9 months

House of Robert Robertson, Canna Street, Lawrence

07/1663

7 January 1907

Rev. John D. McArthur, Wesleyan

No	183
Date of Notice	7 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Robertson	Mary Elizabeth Quilter
	💍 1907/1551
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Borough Ranger	Housekeeper
Age	42	51
Dwelling Place	Lawrence	Lawrence
Length of Residence	42 years	9 months
Marriage Place	House of Robert Robertson, Canna Street, Lawrence
Folio	07/1663
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. John D. McArthur, Wesleyan

184

16 January 1907

Albert James Ferguson
Catherine Cameron Brown

Albert James Ferguson
Catherine Cameron Brown
💍 1907/1552

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher
Teacher

31
24

Lawrence
Lawrence

3 days
2 years

House of Mr. Hugh Brown, Lawrence

07/1664

16 January 1907

Rev. R. Scott-Allan, Presbyterian

No	184
Date of Notice	16 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert James Ferguson	Catherine Cameron Brown
	💍 1907/1552
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher	Teacher
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Lawrence	Lawrence
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Hugh Brown, Lawrence
Folio	07/1664
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Scott-Allan, Presbyterian

185

6 February 1907

William Roderick McKenzie
Mary Ellen Treacy

William Roderick McKenzie
Mary Ellen Treacy
💍 1907/1573

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

35
36

Evansflat
Evansflat

3 days
1 week

House of Mr. Patrick Treacy, at Evansflat

07/1661

6 February 1907

Rev. Patrick O'Leary, Roman Catholic

No	185
Date of Notice	6 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Roderick McKenzie	Mary Ellen Treacy
	💍 1907/1573
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	35	36
Dwelling Place	Evansflat	Evansflat
Length of Residence	3 days	1 week
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Patrick Treacy, at Evansflat
Folio	07/1661
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick O'Leary, Roman Catholic

186

25 February 1907

William Ferguson
Mary Elizabeth Black

William Ferguson
Mary Elizabeth Black
💍 1907/1550

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

33
22

Waipori
Waipori

2 years
22 years

Roman Catholic Manse, Lawrence

07/1662

25 February 1907

Rev. John Lynch, Roman Catholic

No	186
Date of Notice	25 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ferguson	Mary Elizabeth Black
	💍 1907/1550
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Waipori	Waipori
Length of Residence	2 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Manse, Lawrence
Folio	07/1662
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Lynch, Roman Catholic

187

20 March 1907

Frank Swanwick
Theodore McCutcheon

Frank Swannick
Theodore McCutcheon
💍 1907/1553

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

33
23

Wetherstones
Lawrence

3 days
3 months

Presbyterian Church, Lawrence

07/1665

20 March 1907

Rev. R. Scott-Allan, Presbyterian

No	187
Date of Notice	20 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Swanwick	Theodore McCutcheon
BDM Match (96%)	Frank Swannick	Theodore McCutcheon
	💍 1907/1553
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Wetherstones	Lawrence
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Lawrence
Folio	07/1665
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Scott-Allan, Presbyterian

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).