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 630

District of INVERCARGILL Quarter ending 31 December 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

158

25 October 197

Alexander Wann
Christina Strachan

Alexander Wann
Christina Strachan
💍 1907/6689

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Domestic

43
43

Jackson Street, East, INVERCARGILL
Ritchie Street, East, INVERCARGILL

30 years
35 years

Residence of Mrs Christina Strachan, Ritchie Street, East, INVERCARGILL

07/7948

25 October 1907

Rev. R. Ferguson

No	158
Date of Notice	25 October 197
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Wann	Christina Strachan
	💍 1907/6689
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic
Age	43	43
Dwelling Place	Jackson Street, East, INVERCARGILL	Ritchie Street, East, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	30 years	35 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Christina Strachan, Ritchie Street, East, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/7948
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Ferguson

159

26 October 1907

Andrew Jackson
Edith Sophia Rose

Andrew Jackson
Edith Sophia Rose
💍 1907/6779

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Domestic

21
20

Catherine Street, North, INVERCARGILL
Clifton, INVERCARGILL

21 years
20 years

Residence of Francis Rose, Clifton, INVERCARGILL

07/7985

Francis Rose, Father

26 October 1907

Rev. T. A. Pybus

No	159
Date of Notice	26 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Jackson	Edith Sophia Rose
	💍 1907/6779
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Domestic
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Catherine Street, North, INVERCARGILL	Clifton, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	21 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Francis Rose, Clifton, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/7985
Consent	Francis Rose, Father
Date of Certificate	26 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. A. Pybus

160

26 October 1907

Peter Joseph Gilfedder
Mary Ann Horan

Peter Joseph Gilfedder
Mary Ann Horan
💍 1907/6783

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

31
28

One Tree Point, INVERCARGILL
Bowmont Street, INVERCARGILL

31 years
26 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, INVERCARGILL

07/7966

26 October 1907

Rev. Jas. O'Malley

No	160
Date of Notice	26 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Joseph Gilfedder	Mary Ann Horan
	💍 1907/6783
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	One Tree Point, INVERCARGILL	Bowmont Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	31 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/7966
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. O'Malley

161

28 October 1907

William Blue
Jessie Elizabeth Fraser

William Blue
Jessie Elizabeth Fraser
💍 1907/7923

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

34
36

Waianiwa, INVERCARGILL
Waianiwa, INVERCARGILL

3 days
36 years

Residence of Thomas Fraser, Waianiwa, INVERCARGILL

07/7941

28 October 1907

Rev. J. T. Burrows

No	161
Date of Notice	28 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Blue	Jessie Elizabeth Fraser
	💍 1907/7923
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	34	36
Dwelling Place	Waianiwa, INVERCARGILL	Waianiwa, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 days	36 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Thomas Fraser, Waianiwa, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/7941
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Burrows

162

28 October 1907

William West Meikle
Alice Maria Watt

William West Meikle
Alice Maria Watt
💍 1907/7935

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Domestic

25
20

Annan Street, INVERCARGILL
Dee Street, INVERCARGILL

2 years
9 months

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

07/7929

William Watt, father

28 October 1907

Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

No	162
Date of Notice	28 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William West Meikle	Alice Maria Watt
	💍 1907/7935
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Domestic
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Annan Street, INVERCARGILL	Dee Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	2 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/7929
Consent	William Watt, father
Date of Certificate	28 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

163

30 October 1907

Thomas Black
Ethel May Spence

Thomas Black
Ethel May Spence
💍 1907/6703

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic

29
26

Avenal, INVERCARGILL
Avenal, INVERCARGILL

3 days
2 weeks

Residence of Frederick Spence, Fox Street, Avenal, INVERCARGILL

07/7956

30 October 1907

Rev. G. Lindsay

No	163
Date of Notice	30 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Black	Ethel May Spence
	💍 1907/6703
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Avenal, INVERCARGILL	Avenal, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Frederick Spence, Fox Street, Avenal, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/7956
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 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).