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 618

District of INVERCARGILL Quarter ending 30 September 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

103

8 July 1907

Anthony Bulman
Ethel Alice Matthews

Anthony Bulman
Ethel Alice Matthews
💍 1907/3948

Widower
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic

38
24

Woodend, INVERCARGILL
Appleby, INVERCARGILL

14 years
23 years

Residence of Richard W. Hall, Dalrymple Road, Appleby, INVERCARGILL

07/5902

8 July 1907

Rev. J. O'Malley

No	103
Date of Notice	8 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Anthony Bulman	Ethel Alice Matthews
	💍 1907/3948
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic
Age	38	24
Dwelling Place	Woodend, INVERCARGILL	Appleby, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	14 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Richard W. Hall, Dalrymple Road, Appleby, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/5902
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Malley

104

8 July 1907

Robert William Thompson
Elizabeth Hughes

Robert William Thompson
Elizabeth Hughes
💍 1907/5880

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

27
23

Earn Street, INVERCARGILL
Deveron Street, INVERCARGILL

14 months
2 months

Church of Christ, Bowmont Street, INVERCARGILL

07/5910

8 July 1907

William D. Little

No	104
Date of Notice	8 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William Thompson	Elizabeth Hughes
	💍 1907/5880
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Earn Street, INVERCARGILL	Deveron Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	14 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Bowmont Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/5910
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1907
Officiating Minister	William D. Little

105

9 July 1907

Henry Arthur Stead
Elsie Emily May Stevens

Henry Arthur Stead
Elsie Emily May Stevens
💍 1907/6772

Bachelor
Spinster

Gasworks Employee
Domestic

26
18

Tweed Street, INVERCARGILL
Tweed Street, INVERCARGILL

26 years
10 years

Residence of Mr. John Stead, Tweed Street, INVERCARGILL

07/7979

Mr. Stevens, Father

9 July 1907

Rev. A. McBean

No	105
Date of Notice	9 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Arthur Stead	Elsie Emily May Stevens
	💍 1907/6772
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gasworks Employee	Domestic
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Tweed Street, INVERCARGILL	Tweed Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	26 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. John Stead, Tweed Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/7979
Consent	Mr. Stevens, Father
Date of Certificate	9 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. McBean

106

11 July 1907

George Alfred Woods
Mary Agnes Grant

George Alfred Woods
Mary Agnes Grant
💍 1907/3952

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

29
29

Underwood, INVERCARGILL
Underwood, INVERCARGILL

6 years
8 years

Residence of John Grant, Underwood, INVERCARGILL

07/5906

11 July 1907

Rev. J. T. Burrows

No	106
Date of Notice	11 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Alfred Woods	Mary Agnes Grant
	💍 1907/3952
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Underwood, INVERCARGILL	Underwood, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	6 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Grant, Underwood, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/5906
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Burrows

107

12 July 1907

Thomas Edward Haughey
Rosina Florence White Hollington

Thomas Edward Haughey
Rosina Florence White Hollington
💍 1907/3946

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

32
29

Esk Street, INVERCARGILL
Don Street, INVERCARGILL

3 years
7 days

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, INVERCARGILL

07/5901

12 July 1907

Rev. J. O'Malley

No	107
Date of Notice	12 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Edward Haughey	Rosina Florence White Hollington
	💍 1907/3946
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Esk Street, INVERCARGILL	Don Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 years	7 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/5901
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Malley

108

16 July 1907

William John Bragg
Eva Frances McChesney

William John Bragg
Eva Frances McChesney
💍 1907/6774

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic

38
26

West Plains, INVERCARGILL
Tiviot Street, INVERCARGILL

25 years
26 years

Residence of Rev. R. Raine, Esk Street, INVERCARGILL

07/7981

16 July 1907

Rev. R. Raine

No	108
Date of Notice	16 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Bragg	Eva Frances McChesney
	💍 1907/6774
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic
Age	38	26
Dwelling Place	West Plains, INVERCARGILL	Tiviot Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	25 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. R. Raine, Esk Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/7981
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Raine

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).