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 429

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 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

169

25 March 1907

Peter Petersen
Margaret Power

Peter Petersen
Margaret Power
💍 1907/1400

Bachelor
Widow

Carpenter

28 years
28 years

South Dunedin
South Dunedin

2 years
2 years

In the house of the Rev R. Mackie, 33 Young Street, St Kilda

07/1507

25 March 1907

R. Mackie

No	169
Date of Notice	25 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Petersen	Margaret Power
	💍 1907/1400
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Carpenter
Age	28 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev R. Mackie, 33 Young Street, St Kilda
Folio	07/1507
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1907
Officiating Minister	R. Mackie

170

26 March 1907

Robert Edward Hornblow
Rose Lavina Spain

Robert Edward Hornblow
Rose Lavinia Spain
💍 1907/1505

Divorced
Spinster

Journalist

42 years
21 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
9 years

In the First Church, Dunedin

07/1616

26 March 1907

T. Nisbet

No	170
Date of Notice	26 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Edward Hornblow	Rose Lavina Spain
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Edward Hornblow	Rose Lavinia Spain
	💍 1907/1505
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Journalist
Age	42 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	9 years
Marriage Place	In the First Church, Dunedin
Folio	07/1616
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1907
Officiating Minister	T. Nisbet

171

26 March 1907

Clarence Eaton
Louisa Ball

Clarence Eaton
Louisa Ball
💍 1907/1932

Bachelor
Spinster

Methodist Minister

28 years
23 years

St Kilda
Wanganui

12 months
23 years

In the Trinity Methodist Church, Wanganui

07/2054

26 March 1907

J. G. Chapman

No	171
Date of Notice	26 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Eaton	Louisa Ball
	💍 1907/1932
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Methodist Minister
Age	28 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	St Kilda	Wanganui
Length of Residence	12 months	23 years
Marriage Place	In the Trinity Methodist Church, Wanganui
Folio	07/2054
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1907
Officiating Minister	J. G. Chapman

172

26 March 1907

James Brown
Isabella Fraser

James Brown
Isabella Fraser
💍 1907/1509

Widower
Widow

Railway Employee

48 years
40 years

North East Valley
Dunedin

23 years
3 years

In the house of Mr. Wm. Dryden, 11 Duke Street, Dunedin

07/1595

26 March 1907

Geo. Heighway

No	172
Date of Notice	26 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Brown	Isabella Fraser
	💍 1907/1509
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	48 years	40 years
Dwelling Place	North East Valley	Dunedin
Length of Residence	23 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Wm. Dryden, 11 Duke Street, Dunedin
Folio	07/1595
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Geo. Heighway

173

26 March 1907

Thomas Martin
Emily Henshaw Wood

Thomas Martin
Emily Henshaw Wood
💍 1907/1470

Widower
Spinster

Leather Dresser

62 years
52 years

Roslyn
Dunedin

15 years
15 years

In the house of Mr. George Wood, 59 Royal Terrace, Dunedin

07/1580

26 March 1907

C. H. Laws

No	173
Date of Notice	26 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Martin	Emily Henshaw Wood
	💍 1907/1470
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Leather Dresser
Age	62 years	52 years
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Dunedin
Length of Residence	15 years	15 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. George Wood, 59 Royal Terrace, Dunedin
Folio	07/1580
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1907
Officiating Minister	C. H. Laws

174

27 March 1907

Alfred Edward Stephens
Maggie Smith

Alfred Edward Stephens
Maggie Smith
💍 1907/1501

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

27 years
17 years

South Dunedin
South Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the house of Mr. Edward Toy, 45 Helena Street, South Dunedin

07/1611

Hugh Smith, father

27 March 1907

T. Trestrail

No	174
Date of Notice	27 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Edward Stephens	Maggie Smith
	💍 1907/1501
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	27 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Edward Toy, 45 Helena Street, South Dunedin
Folio	07/1611
Consent	Hugh Smith, father
Date of Certificate	27 March 1907
Officiating Minister	T. Trestrail

175

27 March 1907

Robert Bruce Meek
Jessie Annie Gillett

Robert Bruce Meek
Jessie Anne Gillett
💍 1907/1729

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23 years
24 years

Dunedin
North East Valley

3 days
1 month

In the house of Mr. Henry F. Gillett, 2 Main Street, North East Valley

07/1849

27 March 1907

T. H. Rosveare

No	175
Date of Notice	27 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Bruce Meek	Jessie Annie Gillett
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Bruce Meek	Jessie Anne Gillett
	💍 1907/1729
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	North East Valley
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Henry F. Gillett, 2 Main Street, North East Valley
Folio	07/1849
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1907
Officiating Minister	T. H. Rosveare

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).