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 420

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

112

26 February 1907

Frank Moor Drewitt
Johanna Margaret Baxter

Frank Moor Drewitt
Johanna Margaret Baxter
💍 1907/8196

Widower
Spinster

Hotelkeeper

39 years
40 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the house of the Rev. W. Laycock, 52 Dundas Street, Dunedin

07/1603

26 February 1907

W. Laycock

No	112
Date of Notice	26 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Moor Drewitt	Johanna Margaret Baxter
	💍 1907/8196
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper
Age	39 years	40 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. W. Laycock, 52 Dundas Street, Dunedin
Folio	07/1603
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1907
Officiating Minister	W. Laycock

113

27 February 1907

John Richard Tripp
Jane Pascoe

John Richard Tripp
Jane Pascoe
💍 1907/1515

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

26 years
26 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the Knox Church Vestry, Dunedin

07/1627

27 February 1907

W. Hewitson

No	113
Date of Notice	27 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Richard Tripp	Jane Pascoe
	💍 1907/1515
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	26 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Knox Church Vestry, Dunedin
Folio	07/1627
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1907
Officiating Minister	W. Hewitson

114

27 February 1907

William Hugh Riddell
Elizabeth Hill Adair

William Hugh Riddell
Elizabeth Hill Adair
💍 1907/1407

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

25 years
27 years

Dunedin
South Dunedin

3 days
27 years

In the house of Mr. J. G. Adair, Regent Street, South Dunedin

07/1513

27 February 1907

R. Mackie

No	114
Date of Notice	27 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hugh Riddell	Elizabeth Hill Adair
	💍 1907/1407
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	25 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. J. G. Adair, Regent Street, South Dunedin
Folio	07/1513
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1907
Officiating Minister	R. Mackie

115

27 February 1907

Allan MacKenzie Martin
Annie Margaret Wright

Allan Mackenzie Martin
Annie Margaret Wright
💍 1907/1510

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk
Shop Assistant

24 years
22 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
22 years

In the Primitive Methodist Church, Dundas Street, Dunedin

07/1596

27 February 1907

W. Laycock

No	115
Date of Notice	27 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan MacKenzie Martin	Annie Margaret Wright
BDM Match (98%)	Allan Mackenzie Martin	Annie Margaret Wright
	💍 1907/1510
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk	Shop Assistant
Age	24 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	In the Primitive Methodist Church, Dundas Street, Dunedin
Folio	07/1596
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1907
Officiating Minister	W. Laycock

116

27 February 1907

Joseph Hobson Stratton
Florence Grace Stratton

Joseph Hobson
Florence Grace Stratton
💍 1907/1456

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

26 years
25 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
25 years

In the Hanover Street Baptist Church, Hanover Street, Dunedin

07/1542

27 February 1907

Wm. Hay

No	116
Date of Notice	27 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Hobson Stratton	Florence Grace Stratton
BDM Match (80%)	Joseph Hobson	Florence Grace Stratton
	💍 1907/1456
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	26 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	In the Hanover Street Baptist Church, Hanover Street, Dunedin
Folio	07/1542
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Wm. Hay

117

27 February 1907

Frederick Grasby Parsons
Florence Maud Haymes

Frederick Grasby Parsons
Florence Maud Haymes
💍 1907/1549

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

22 years
21 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

22 years
21 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

07/1653

27 February 1907

Jas. Taylor

No	117
Date of Notice	27 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Grasby Parsons	Florence Maud Haymes
	💍 1907/1549
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	22 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	22 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	07/1653
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Jas. Taylor

118

1 March 1907

Vivian George Edward Simmons
Mary Jane Hicks

Vivian George Edward Simmons
Mary Jane Hicks
💍 1907/3905

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28 years
26 years

South Dunedin
Caversham

28 years
26 years

In the Baptist Church, Main South Road, Caversham

07/1545

1 March 1907

Charles. Boyall

No	118
Date of Notice	1 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vivian George Edward Simmons	Mary Jane Hicks
	💍 1907/3905
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	Caversham
Length of Residence	28 years	26 years
Marriage Place	In the Baptist Church, Main South Road, Caversham
Folio	07/1545
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Charles. Boyall

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).