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 637

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

200

18 December 1907

William Scott
Annie Isabella Milne

William Scott
Annie Isobella Milne
💍 1907/6701

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician
Clerk

23
22

Bowmont Street, INVERCARGILL
Bowmont Street, INVERCARGILL

3 days
6 years

Residence of Rev. R. Ferguson, Tay Street, INVERCARGILL

07/7954

18 December 1907

Rev. R. Ferguson

No	200
Date of Notice	18 December 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Scott	Annie Isabella Milne
BDM Match (98%)	William Scott	Annie Isobella Milne
	💍 1907/6701
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician	Clerk
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Bowmont Street, INVERCARGILL	Bowmont Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. R. Ferguson, Tay Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/7954
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 December 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Ferguson

201

18 December 1907

Alfred Fitzgerald
Margaret Cavanagh

Alfred Fitzgerald
Margaret Cavanagh
💍 1907/6767

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

30
34

Clyde Street, INVERCARGILL
Kew, INVERCARGILL

3 years
34 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, INVERCARGILL

07/7974

18 December 1907

Rev. J. Delaney

No	201
Date of Notice	18 December 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Fitzgerald	Margaret Cavanagh
	💍 1907/6767
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	30	34
Dwelling Place	Clyde Street, INVERCARGILL	Kew, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 years	34 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/7974
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 December 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Delaney

202

19 December 1907

Sydney Lamont Hunter
Elizabeth Ann Mitchell

Sydney Lamont Hunter
Elizabeth Ann Mitchell
💍 1907/7949

Bachelor
Spinster

Government Rabbiter
Domestic

28
28

Nelson Street, South Invercargill
East Road, INVERCARGILL

7 years
7 years

Residence of David Willis, East Road, INVERCARGILL

07/7989

19 December 1907

Rev. T. A. Pybus

No	202
Date of Notice	19 December 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Lamont Hunter	Elizabeth Ann Mitchell
	💍 1907/7949
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Government Rabbiter	Domestic
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Nelson Street, South Invercargill	East Road, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of David Willis, East Road, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/7989
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. A. Pybus

203

19 December 1907

William McLeay
Mabel Duff

William McLeay
Mabel Duff
💍 1908/1717

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic

32
22

One Tree Point, INVERCARGILL
Long Bush, INVERCARGILL

32 years
18 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Don Street, INVERCARGILL

08/1759

19 December 1907

Rev. T. A. Pybus

No	203
Date of Notice	19 December 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McLeay	Mabel Duff
	💍 1908/1717
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	One Tree Point, INVERCARGILL	Long Bush, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	32 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Don Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	08/1759
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. A. Pybus

204

21 December 1907

Thomas McFadzien
Sarah Laughton Harrison

Thomas McFadzien
Sarah Laughton Harrison
💍 1907/6771

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic

26
20

Morton Mains, INVERCARGILL
Morton Mains, INVERCARGILL

2 years
2 years

Wesleyan Church, Ythan Street, INVERCARGILL

07/7978

Joseph Harrison, Father

21 December 1907

Rev. A. McBean

No	204
Date of Notice	21 December 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas McFadzien	Sarah Laughton Harrison
	💍 1907/6771
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Morton Mains, INVERCARGILL	Morton Mains, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Ythan Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/7978
Consent	Joseph Harrison, Father
Date of Certificate	21 December 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. McBean

205

23 December 1907

Denham Eric Goldsmith
Clara Barnes

Denham Eric Gold-Smith
Clara Barnes
💍 1907/7922

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Tailoress

25
33

85 Leet Street, INVERCARGILL
Princes Street, Hawera

2 months
6 months

English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

07/7940

23 December 1907

Ven. Archdeacon Stocker

No	205
Date of Notice	23 December 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Denham Eric Goldsmith	Clara Barnes
BDM Match (95%)	Denham Eric Gold-Smith	Clara Barnes
	💍 1907/7922
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Tailoress
Age	25	33
Dwelling Place	85 Leet Street, INVERCARGILL	Princes Street, Hawera
Length of Residence	2 months	6 months
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	07/7940
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1907
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon Stocker

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).