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 425

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

141

11 March 1907

Alexander Taylor
Winifred Elizabeth Fisher

Alexander Taylor
Winifred Elizabeth Fisher
💍 1907/1508

Bachelor
Spinster

Fellmonger
Dressmaker

26 years
26 years

Green Island
Dunedin

26 years
26 years

In the Congregational Church, Great King Street, Dunedin

07/1594

11 March 1907

G. Heighway

No	141
Date of Notice	11 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Taylor	Winifred Elizabeth Fisher
	💍 1907/1508
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fellmonger	Dressmaker
Age	26 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Green Island	Dunedin
Length of Residence	26 years	26 years
Marriage Place	In the Congregational Church, Great King Street, Dunedin
Folio	07/1594
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1907
Officiating Minister	G. Heighway

142

11 March 1907

Sydney John Davys
Mabel Bland

Sydney John Davys
Mabel Bland
💍 1907/1486

Bachelor
Spinster

Dentist

26 years
24 years

Oamaru
North East Valley

10 months
24 years

In the house of Mr. J. Bland, Normanby, North East Valley

07/1572

11 March 1907

H. B. Gray

No	142
Date of Notice	11 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney John Davys	Mabel Bland
	💍 1907/1486
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dentist
Age	26 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	North East Valley
Length of Residence	10 months	24 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. J. Bland, Normanby, North East Valley
Folio	07/1572
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1907
Officiating Minister	H. B. Gray

143

12 March 1907

David Telford Brownlie
Lucy Ethel Black

David Telford Brownlie
Lucy Ethel Black
💍 1907/978

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Manager

43 years
32 years

Dunedin
Greymouth

5½ years
6 months

In Holy Trinity Church Greymouth

07/1073

12 March 1907

G. W. York

No	143
Date of Notice	12 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Telford Brownlie	Lucy Ethel Black
	💍 1907/978
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Manager
Age	43 years	32 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Greymouth
Length of Residence	5½ years	6 months
Marriage Place	In Holy Trinity Church Greymouth
Folio	07/1073
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1907
Officiating Minister	G. W. York

144

12 March 1907

Louis Augustus Stokes
Jessie Elizabeth Wright

Louis Augustus Stokes
Jessie Elizabeth Wright
💍 1907/1520

Bachelor
Spinster

Traveller
Dressmaker

27 years
24 years

Caversham
Dunedin

20 years
24 years

In Knox Church, Dunedin

07/1632

12 March 1907

W. Hewitson

No	144
Date of Notice	12 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Augustus Stokes	Jessie Elizabeth Wright
	💍 1907/1520
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Traveller	Dressmaker
Age	27 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	24 years
Marriage Place	In Knox Church, Dunedin
Folio	07/1632
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1907
Officiating Minister	W. Hewitson

145

13 March 1907

Herbert Mark Morton
Helen McLeod Munn

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Music Teacher

25 years
24 years

Roslyn
Roslyn

14 years
24 years

In The First Church, Dunedin

07/1615

13 March 1907

T. Hisbet

No	145
Date of Notice	13 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Mark Morton	Helen McLeod Munn
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Music Teacher
Age	25 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Roslyn
Length of Residence	14 years	24 years
Marriage Place	In The First Church, Dunedin
Folio	07/1615
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1907
Officiating Minister	T. Hisbet

146

13 March 1907

Hugh Calder Applegarth
Mary Jane Smith

Hugh Calder Applegarth
Mary Jane Smith
💍 1907/1394

Bachelor
Spinster

Boiler Maker

24 years
28 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

24 years
6 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

07/1501

13 March 1907

James Taylor

No	146
Date of Notice	13 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Calder Applegarth	Mary Jane Smith
	💍 1907/1394
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boiler Maker
Age	24 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	24 years	6 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	07/1501
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1907
Officiating Minister	James Taylor

147

14 March 1907

Benjamin Burgess
Annie Elizabeth Hynes

Benjamin Burgess
Annie Elizabeth Hynes
💍 1907/1393

Widower
Spinster

Engine Driver

33 years
24 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 days
1 week

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

07/1500

14 March 1907

James Taylor

No	147
Date of Notice	14 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Burgess	Annie Elizabeth Hynes
	💍 1907/1393
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	33 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	1 week
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	07/1500
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1907
Officiating Minister	James Taylor

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).