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 484

District of Dunedin 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

502

16 October 1907

Harry Dodgshun Bedford
Ella Brown

Harry Dodgshun Bedford
Ella Brown
💍 1907/6685

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

30 years
26 years

Dunedin
Maori Hill

8 years
10 years

In the house of Mr S. N. Brown, High Street, Maori Hill

07/7801

16 October 1907

T. Nisbet

No	502
Date of Notice	16 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Dodgshun Bedford	Ella Brown
	💍 1907/6685
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	30 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Maori Hill
Length of Residence	8 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr S. N. Brown, High Street, Maori Hill
Folio	07/7801
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1907
Officiating Minister	T. Nisbet

503

16 October 1907

William Henry Parkinson
Caroline Ann Jackson Henry

William Henry Parkinson
Caroline Ann Jackson Henry
💍 1907/6680

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Music Teacher

30 years
30 years

Mornington
Dunedin

3 days
25 years

In St-Andrews Church, Dunedin

07/7819

16 October 1907

R Waddell

No	503
Date of Notice	16 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Parkinson	Caroline Ann Jackson Henry
	💍 1907/6680
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Music Teacher
Age	30 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	In St-Andrews Church, Dunedin
Folio	07/7819
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1907
Officiating Minister	R Waddell

504

16 October 1907

William Chapman Jamieson
Annie Paterson Wilson

William Chapman Jamieson
Annie Paterson Wilson
💍 1907/8028

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31 years
23 years

Roslyn
Roslyn

3 days
23 years

In the house of Mr J. C. Wilson, 7 West Taieri Road, Roslyn

07/8150

16 October 1907

R. R. M. Sutherland

No	504
Date of Notice	16 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Chapman Jamieson	Annie Paterson Wilson
	💍 1907/8028
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Roslyn
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr J. C. Wilson, 7 West Taieri Road, Roslyn
Folio	07/8150
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1907
Officiating Minister	R. R. M. Sutherland

505

18 October 1907

Alexander Frame Jnr
Jemima Bain

Alexander Frame
Jemima Bain
💍 1907/8118

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Tailoress

28 years
25 years

Dunedin
South Dunedin

7 years
10 years

In the Wesleyan Methodist Church, Cargill Road, South Dunedin

07/8246

18 October 1907

W. Grigg

No	505
Date of Notice	18 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Frame Jnr	Jemima Bain
BDM Match (89%)	Alexander Frame	Jemima Bain
	💍 1907/8118
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Tailoress
Age	28 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the Wesleyan Methodist Church, Cargill Road, South Dunedin
Folio	07/8246
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1907
Officiating Minister	W. Grigg

506

19 October 1907

Charles Thomas
Rebecca Daisy Hardie

Charles Thomas
Rebecca Daisy Hardie
💍 1907/6653

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

37 years
27 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
27 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

07/7742

19 October 1907

H Maxwell

No	506
Date of Notice	19 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Thomas	Rebecca Daisy Hardie
	💍 1907/6653
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	37 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	07/7742
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1907
Officiating Minister	H Maxwell

507

22 October 1907

William Ostarasch
Margaret Jenkins

William Ostarasch
Margaret Jenkins
💍 1907/6654

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

27 years
19 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
19 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

07/7743

William Jenkins, Father

22 October 1907

H Maxwell

No	507
Date of Notice	22 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ostarasch	Margaret Jenkins
	💍 1907/6654
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	27 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	19 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	07/7743
Consent	William Jenkins, Father
Date of Certificate	22 October 1907
Officiating Minister	H Maxwell

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).