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 616

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

7 June 1907

Charles Batt
Jessie Colley

Charles Batt
Jessie Colley
💍 1907/3265

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

21
17

Kennington, Southland
Kennington, Southland

1 week
1 month

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

07/3720

24 June 1907

Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

No	93
Date of Notice	7 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Batt	Jessie Colley
	💍 1907/3265
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Kennington, Southland	Kennington, Southland
Length of Residence	1 week	1 month
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/3720
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1907
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

8 June 1907

Alexander Cook
Jane Louis Meikle

Alexander Cook
Jane Lewis Meikle
💍 1907/3263

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

27
20

Yarrow Street, INVERCARGILL
Earn Street, INVERCARGILL

27 years
8 months

Residence of Mrs. Jane Meikle, Earn Street INVERCARGILL

07/3741

John James Meikle, Father

8 June 1907

Rev. R. Raine

No	94
Date of Notice	8 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Cook	Jane Louis Meikle
BDM Match (94%)	Alexander Cook	Jane Lewis Meikle
	💍 1907/3263
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Yarrow Street, INVERCARGILL	Earn Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	27 years	8 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Jane Meikle, Earn Street INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/3741
Consent	John James Meikle, Father
Date of Certificate	8 June 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Raine

10 June 1907

Charles Herbert Rogers
Annie Smith Aitken

Charles Herbert Rogers
Annie Smith Aitken
💍 1907/3259

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Dressmaker

22
19

Esk Street, INVERCARGILL
Esk Street, INVERCARGILL

5 weeks
5 weeks

Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, INVERCARGILL

07/3737

John Aitken, Father

10 June 1907

Rev. R. Ferguson

No	95
Date of Notice	10 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Herbert Rogers	Annie Smith Aitken
	💍 1907/3259
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Dressmaker
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Esk Street, INVERCARGILL	Esk Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	5 weeks	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/3737
Consent	John Aitken, Father
Date of Certificate	10 June 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Ferguson

14 June 1907

John McCaughan
Emily Francis Reynolds

John McCaughan
Emily Francis Reynolds
💍 1907/3258

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Dressmaker

30
30

Tay Street, INVERCARGILL
Appleby, INVERCARGILL

3 days
8 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

07/3719

14 June 1907

Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

No	96
Date of Notice	14 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McCaughan	Emily Francis Reynolds
	💍 1907/3258
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Dressmaker
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Tay Street, INVERCARGILL	Appleby, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 days	8 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/3719
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1907
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

15 June 1907

Joseph Bragg
Eliza Brown

Joseph Bragg
Elizabeth Brown
💍 1907/4710

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

34
25

West Plains, INVERCARGILL
West Plains, INVERCARGILL

28 years
25 years

Residence of Joseph Bragg, West Plains, INVERCARGILL

07/4075

15 June 1907

Rev. James O'Malley

No	97
Date of Notice	15 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Bragg	Eliza Brown
BDM Match (87%)	Joseph Bragg	Elizabeth Brown
	💍 1907/4710
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	West Plains, INVERCARGILL	West Plains, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	28 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Joseph Bragg, West Plains, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/4075
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. James O'Malley

18 June 1907

William Ramsay
Elizabeth Catherine Sims

William Ramsay
Elizabeth Catherine Sims
💍 1907/3251

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

36
18

North Invercargill
North Invercargill

21 years
11 year

Residence of Rev. G. Lindsay, Kelvin Street, INVERCARGILL

07/3730

Isabella Filippini, Mother of bride

18 June 1907

Rev. G. Lindsay

No	98
Date of Notice	18 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ramsay	Elizabeth Catherine Sims
	💍 1907/3251
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	36	18
Dwelling Place	North Invercargill	North Invercargill
Length of Residence	21 years	11 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. G. Lindsay, Kelvin Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/3730
Consent	Isabella Filippini, Mother of bride
Date of Certificate	18 June 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Lindsay

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).