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 772

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 31 December 1907 Registrar George Galloway Chisholm

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

2 October 1907

William Henry Watson Colthorpe
Edith Olive Rebecca Harrison

William Henry Watson Colthorpe
Edith Olive Rebecca Harrison
💍 1907/8113

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Domestic duties

24
24

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

24 years
24 years

Residence of Mr. J. W. Harrison, Beach Street, Port Chalmers

07/8242

2 October 1907

Rev. Josiah Ward

No	24
Date of Notice	2 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Watson Colthorpe	Edith Olive Rebecca Harrison
	💍 1907/8113
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Domestic duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	24 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. W. Harrison, Beach Street, Port Chalmers
Folio	07/8242
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Josiah Ward

22 October 1907

Joseph Edward Faulder Buckland
Ellen Cashman

John Edward Faulder Buckland
Ellen Cashman
💍 1907/4058

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic Duties

30
30

Present: Port Chalmers, Usual: at Sea
Port Chalmers

2 days
30 years

Holy Trinity Church, Port Chalmers

07/8045

22 October 1907

Rev. George William Christian

No	25
Date of Notice	22 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Edward Faulder Buckland	Ellen Cashman
BDM Match (93%)	John Edward Faulder Buckland	Ellen Cashman
	💍 1907/4058
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Present: Port Chalmers, Usual: at Sea	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	2 days	30 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Port Chalmers
Folio	07/8045
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. George William Christian

2 November 1907

Robert Anderson
Edith Maud Olsen

Robert Anderson
Edith Maud Olsen
💍 1907/8114

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

37
27

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

37 years
about 20 years

Residence of Bride's parents, George Street, Port Chalmers

07/8243

2 November 1907

Rev. Josiah Ward

No	26
Date of Notice	2 November 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Anderson	Edith Maud Olsen
	💍 1907/8114
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	37 years	about 20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's parents, George Street, Port Chalmers
Folio	07/8243
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Josiah Ward

4 November 1907

William Alexander Reeves
Euphemia Fairlie Wilson

William Alexander Reeves
Euphemia Fairlie Wilson
💍 1907/4059

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic duties

27
28

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

20 years
about 4 months

Holy Trinity Church, Port Chalmers

07/8046

4 November 1907

Rev. George William Christian

No	27
Date of Notice	4 November 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Reeves	Euphemia Fairlie Wilson
	💍 1907/4059
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic duties
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	20 years	about 4 months
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Port Chalmers
Folio	07/8046
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. George William Christian

13 November 1907

John Paterson
Edith Ethel Mudge

John Paterson
Edith Ethel Mudge
💍 1907/4057

Bachelor
Spinster

Upholsterer
Saleswoman

28
23

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

about 5 years
23 years

Residence of Bride's parents, Harrington Street, Port Chalmers

07/8044

13 November 1907

Rev. Edward Cowper Tennant

No	28
Date of Notice	13 November 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Paterson	Edith Ethel Mudge
	💍 1907/4057
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Upholsterer	Saleswoman
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	about 5 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's parents, Harrington Street, Port Chalmers
Folio	07/8044
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 November 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edward Cowper 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).