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 600

District of INVERCARGILL Quarter ending 31 March 1907 Registrar Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

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

9 February 1907

Michael Moylan
Lora Mary Jane Kennard

Michael Moylan
Laura Mary Jane Kennard
💍 1907/1575

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

26
23

Waianiwa, INVERCARGILL
Waianiwa, INVERCARGILL

22 years
23 years

Residence of Simon Kennard, Waianiwa

07/1688

9 February 1907

Rev. A. D. Kirkland

No	19
Date of Notice	9 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Moylan	Lora Mary Jane Kennard
BDM Match (96%)	Michael Moylan	Laura Mary Jane Kennard
	💍 1907/1575
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Waianiwa, INVERCARGILL	Waianiwa, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	22 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Simon Kennard, Waianiwa
Folio	07/1688
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. D. Kirkland

9 February 1907

John Sullivan
Anne Honora Murphy

John Sullivan
Anne Honora Murphy
💍 1907/1598

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic

30
26

Grove Bush, INVERCARGILL
Roslyn Bush, INVERCARGILL

5 weeks
26 years

Roman Catholic Church, Rakahouka

07/1704

9 February 1907

Very Rev. Dean Burke

No	20
Date of Notice	9 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Sullivan	Anne Honora Murphy
	💍 1907/1598
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Grove Bush, INVERCARGILL	Roslyn Bush, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	5 weeks	26 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Rakahouka
Folio	07/1704
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Burke

12 February 1907

Samuel Gordon
Amy Coveney

Samuel Gordon
Amy Coveney
💍 1907/1576

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

32
24

Grove Bush, INVERCARGILL
Grove Bush, INVERCARGILL

3 days
24 years

Residence of James Coveney, Grove Bush

07/1689

12 February 1907

Rev. J. T. Burrows

No	21
Date of Notice	12 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Gordon	Amy Coveney
	💍 1907/1576
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Grove Bush, INVERCARGILL	Grove Bush, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of James Coveney, Grove Bush
Folio	07/1689
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Burrows

13 February 1907

Sydney Harold Dunne
Annie Gellately

Sydney Harold Dunne
Annie Gellately
💍 1907/1581

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Dressmaker

25
22

Spey Street, INVERCARGILL
Yarrow Street, INVERCARGILL

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Manse, Tay Street

07/1695

13 February 1907

Rev. R. Ferguson

No	22
Date of Notice	13 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Harold Dunne	Annie Gellately
	💍 1907/1581
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Dressmaker
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Spey Street, INVERCARGILL	Yarrow Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Tay Street
Folio	07/1695
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Ferguson

13 February 1907

John Thomas Longly
Sarah Bailey

John Thomas Longley
Sarah Bailey
💍 1907/1586

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic

22
19

South, INVERCARGILL
Avenal, INVERCARGILL

5 years
19 years

Residence of Isaac Byfield Bailey, Avenal [crossed out]

07/1699

Margaret McDermott, Mother

13 February 1907

Rev. A. Mitchell

No	23
Date of Notice	13 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Longly	Sarah Bailey
BDM Match (97%)	John Thomas Longley	Sarah Bailey
	💍 1907/1586
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	South, INVERCARGILL	Avenal, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	5 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Isaac Byfield Bailey, Avenal [crossed out]
Folio	07/1699
Consent	Margaret McDermott, Mother
Date of Certificate	13 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Mitchell

4 March 1907

Arthur Butson
Rachel Field

Arthur Butson
Rachel Field
💍 1907/1618

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine-driver
Domestic

23
15

Mokotua, INVERCARGILL
Mokotua, INVERCARGILL

4 years
14 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

07/1709

Joseph Field, Father

4 March 1907

Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

No	24
Date of Notice	4 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Butson	Rachel Field
	💍 1907/1618
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine-driver	Domestic
Age	23	15
Dwelling Place	Mokotua, INVERCARGILL	Mokotua, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	4 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL
Folio	07/1709
Consent	Joseph Field, Father
Date of Certificate	4 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

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).