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 605

District of INVERCARGILL Quarter ending 31 March 1907 Registrar J. S. Petrie

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

18 March 1907

Charles Robert Sharp Sloan
Emily Alice Brass

Charles Robert Sharp Sloan
Emily Alice Bress
💍 1907/1983

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger
Domestic

24
24

Ethick Street, Invercargill
Tweed Street, Invercargill

24 years
24 years

English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

07/2106

18 March 1907

Ven. Archdeacon Stocker

No	37
Date of Notice	18 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Robert Sharp Sloan	Emily Alice Brass
BDM Match (97%)	Charles Robert Sharp Sloan	Emily Alice Bress
	💍 1907/1983
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger	Domestic
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Ethick Street, Invercargill	Tweed Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	24 years	24 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	07/2106
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon Stocker

19 March 1907

Thomas Major
Dorothea Major
formerly Niederer

Thomas Major
Dorothea Major
💍 1907/1620

Formerly mnarried at Dunedin, by Ven Archdeacon Robinson on 12 December 1906

Grocer
Dressmaker

27
24

Gorge Road, Invercargill
Gorge Road, Invercargill

3 days
24 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

07/1711

19 March 1907

Registrar of Marriages Invercargill

No	38
Date of Notice	19 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Major	Dorothea Major formerly Niederer
	💍 1907/1620
Condition	Formerly mnarried at Dunedin, by Ven Archdeacon Robinson on 12 December 1906
Profession	Grocer	Dressmaker
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Gorge Road, Invercargill	Gorge Road, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	07/1711
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Invercargill

20 March 1907

John Flaus
Kate Cox

John Flaus
Katee Cox
💍 1907/1594

Widower
Spinster

Builder
Nurse

49
38

Newcastle Street North, Invercargill
Tweed Street, Invercargill

32 years
38 years

Residence of Mrs. Whale, Tweed Street Invercargill

07/1684

20 March 1907

Rev. Geo. Lindsay

No	39
Date of Notice	20 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Flaus	Kate Cox
BDM Match (94%)	John Flaus	Katee Cox
	💍 1907/1594
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Nurse
Age	49	38
Dwelling Place	Newcastle Street North, Invercargill	Tweed Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	32 years	38 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Whale, Tweed Street Invercargill
Folio	07/1684
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Lindsay

23 March 1907

Robert Parsons
Elsie Christina Flaus

Robert Parsons
Elsie Christina Flaus
💍 1907/1588

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill hand
Domestic

30
20

Kapuka, Invercargill
North Invercargill

1 year
7 years

Residence of John Flaus, Newcastle Street North Invercargill

07/1701

John Flaus, Father

23 March 1907

Rev. A. Laishley

No	40
Date of Notice	23 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Parsons	Elsie Christina Flaus
	💍 1907/1588
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill hand	Domestic
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Kapuka, Invercargill	North Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 year	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Flaus, Newcastle Street North Invercargill
Folio	07/1701
Consent	John Flaus, Father
Date of Certificate	23 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Laishley

26 March 1907

Charles Percy Stroud
Grace Harvey

Charles Percy Stroud
Grace Harvey
💍 1907/1981

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Dressmaker

30
23

Esk Street, Invercargill
Clyde Street, Invercargill

21 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

07/2104

26 March 1907

Rev. Geo. Lindsay

No	41
Date of Notice	26 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Percy Stroud	Grace Harvey
	💍 1907/1981
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Dressmaker
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Esk Street, Invercargill	Clyde Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	21 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	07/2104
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Lindsay

27 March 1907

James Lewis Boniface
Mary Jane McFeely

James Lewis Boniface
Mary Jane McFeely
💍 1907/1984

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

23
23

Dee Street, Invercargill
Mary Street East, Invercargill

3 days
3 years

English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

07/2107

27 March 1907

Ven. Archdeacon Stocker

No	42
Date of Notice	27 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Lewis Boniface	Mary Jane McFeely
	💍 1907/1984
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Dee Street, Invercargill	Mary Street East, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	07/2107
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon Stocker

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).