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 770

District of PORT CHALMERS Quarter ending 30 September 1907 Registrar James Miller

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

8 July 1907

John McKay Morris
Jane Robertson

John McKay Morris
Jane Robertson
💍 1907/5896

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer
domestic duties

38
30

Usual Alfredton present PORT CHALMERS
PORT CHALMERS

3 weeks
4 months

residence of Mr. A. Legg Port Chalmers

07/5950

8 July 1907

Rev. E. C. Tennant

No	17
Date of Notice	8 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McKay Morris	Jane Robertson
	💍 1907/5896
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer	domestic duties
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Usual Alfredton present PORT CHALMERS	PORT CHALMERS
Length of Residence	3 weeks	4 months
Marriage Place	residence of Mr. A. Legg Port Chalmers
Folio	07/5950
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. C. Tennant

9 July 1907

Robert Tapp
Jeanie Lott

Robert Tapp
Jeanie Lott
💍 1907/5901

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

26
20

Usual Glenomaru present Mihiwaka
Mihiwaka

3 days
4 years

residence of Mr. Abel William Lott, Mihiwaka

07/5954

Abel William Lott, father

9 July 1907

Rev. Josiah Ward

No	18
Date of Notice	9 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Tapp	Jeanie Lott
	💍 1907/5901
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Usual Glenomaru present Mihiwaka	Mihiwaka
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	residence of Mr. Abel William Lott, Mihiwaka
Folio	07/5954
Consent	Abel William Lott, father
Date of Certificate	9 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Josiah Ward

15 August 1907

Herbert Frederick Gifford
Rose Catherine Harding

Herbert Frederick Gifford
Rose Catherine Harding
💍 1907/8219

Bachelor
Divorced (Copy of decree absolute produced)

Engineers Labourer
domestic duties

21
24

PORT CHALMERS
PORT CHALMERS

21 years
4 months

Methodist Parsonage

07/5955

15 August 1907

Rev. Josiah Ward

No	19
Date of Notice	15 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Frederick Gifford	Rose Catherine Harding
	💍 1907/8219
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Copy of decree absolute produced)
Profession	Engineers Labourer	domestic duties
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	PORT CHALMERS	PORT CHALMERS
Length of Residence	21 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage
Folio	07/5955
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Josiah Ward

3 September 1907

Alfred Robert Reeves
Rosa Howard

Alfred Robert Reeves
Rosa Howard
💍 1907/5900

Bachelor
Spinster

Bridgeman N.Z. Railways
Domestic duties

28
21

PORT CHALMERS
Georgetown PORT CHALMERS

19 years
3 months, 3 days

Trinity Church Port Chalmers

07/5953

3 September 1907

Rev. George William Christian

No	20
Date of Notice	3 September 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Robert Reeves	Rosa Howard
	💍 1907/5900
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bridgeman N.Z. Railways	Domestic duties
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	PORT CHALMERS	Georgetown PORT CHALMERS
Length of Residence	19 years	3 months, 3 days
Marriage Place	Trinity Church Port Chalmers
Folio	07/5953
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. George William Christian

14 September 1907

John Lee
Ethel Victoria Smaill

John Lee
Ethel Victoria Smaill
💍 1907/5897

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinetmaker
domestic duties

23
20

PORT CHALMERS
PORT CHALMERS

23 years
8 years

Presbyterian Church Port Chalmers

07/5951

John Smaill, father

14 September 1907

Rev. Ed. C. Tennant

No	21
Date of Notice	14 September 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lee	Ethel Victoria Smaill
	💍 1907/5897
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker	domestic duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	PORT CHALMERS	PORT CHALMERS
Length of Residence	23 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Port Chalmers
Folio	07/5951
Consent	John Smaill, father
Date of Certificate	14 September 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Ed. C. Tennant

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).