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 614

District of INVERCARGILL Quarter ending 30 June 1907

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

13 May 1907

Frank Agustus Patterson Dore
Margaret Gillchrist Bell

Frank Augustus Patterson Dore
Margaret Gillchrist Bell
💍 1907/3255

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

26
27

Tay Street, INVERCARGILL
Tay Street, INVERCARGILL

3 days
3 days

Residence of Rev. R. Ferguson, Tay Street, INVERCARGILL

07/3734

13 May 1907

Rev. R. Ferguson

No	81
Date of Notice	13 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Agustus Patterson Dore	Margaret Gillchrist Bell
BDM Match (98%)	Frank Augustus Patterson Dore	Margaret Gillchrist Bell
	💍 1907/3255
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Tay Street, INVERCARGILL	Tay Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. R. Ferguson, Tay Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/3734
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Ferguson

14 May 1907

Leonard Gilvear Dyson
Florence Louisa Brown

Leonard Gilvear Dyson
Florence Louisa Brown
💍 1907/4460

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Domestic

28
20

131 Nith Street, INVERCARGILL
131 Nith Street, INVERCARGILL

2 weeks
4 weeks

English Church, Tay Street, INVERCARGILL

07/3745

Anna Blackford Cox, Guardian

14 May 1907

Ven. Archdeacon Stocker

No	82
Date of Notice	14 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Gilvear Dyson	Florence Louisa Brown
	💍 1907/4460
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Domestic
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	131 Nith Street, INVERCARGILL	131 Nith Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	2 weeks	4 weeks
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/3745
Consent	Anna Blackford Cox, Guardian
Date of Certificate	14 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon Stocker

15 May 1907

Robert Thomas Duthie
Margaret Farrington

Robert Thomas Duthie
Margaret Farrington
💍 1907/3248

Bachelor
Spinster

Express-Agent
Domestic

36
30

Leet Street, INVERCARGILL
Gladstone, INVERCARGILL

6 years
10 years

Residence of John S. Murphy, Teviot Street, INVERCARGILL

07/3727

15 May 1907

Rev. Geo. Lindsay

No	83
Date of Notice	15 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Thomas Duthie	Margaret Farrington
	💍 1907/3248
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Express-Agent	Domestic
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Leet Street, INVERCARGILL	Gladstone, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	6 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John S. Murphy, Teviot Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/3727
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Lindsay

21 May 1907

Andrew James Stott
Margaret Ethel Baird

James Andrew Stott
Margaret Ethel Baird
💍 1907/3261

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic

21
16

East INVERCARGILL
East INVERCARGILL

21 years
16 years

Residence of Thomas B. Baird, Jackson Street, East INVERCARGILL

07/3739

Thomas Birch Baird, Father

21 May 1907

Rev. R. Raine

No	84
Date of Notice	21 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew James Stott	Margaret Ethel Baird
BDM Match (72%)	James Andrew Stott	Margaret Ethel Baird
	💍 1907/3261
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic
Age	21	16
Dwelling Place	East INVERCARGILL	East INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	21 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Thomas B. Baird, Jackson Street, East INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/3739
Consent	Thomas Birch Baird, Father
Date of Certificate	21 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Raine

22 May 1907

Archibald Gray
Jessie Swale

Archibald Gray
Jessie Swale
💍 1907/3249

Bachelor
Spinster

Station-Manager
Domestic

33
25

West Plains, INVERCARGILL
West Plains, INVERCARGILL

3 days
25 years

Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, INVERCARGILL

07/3728

22 May 1907

Rev. Geo. Lindsay

No	85
Date of Notice	22 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Gray	Jessie Swale
	💍 1907/3249
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station-Manager	Domestic
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	West Plains, INVERCARGILL	West Plains, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/3728
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Lindsay

28 May 1907

James Doherty
Annie Ross

James Doherty
Annie Ross
💍 1907/4709

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

27
30

North INVERCARGILL
North INVERCARGILL

3 years
1 year

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, INVERCARGILL

07/4074

28 May 1907

Rev. J. Delaney

No	86
Date of Notice	28 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Doherty	Annie Ross
	💍 1907/4709
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	27	30
Dwelling Place	North INVERCARGILL	North INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/4074
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Delaney

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).