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 207

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 30 September 1907 Registrar W. D. Wallace

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

20 August 1907

Thomas Edward Bruce
Caroline Harris

Thomas Edward Bruce
Caroline Harris
💍 1907/5714

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Dressmaker

21
18

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

10 days
2 years

Holy Trinity Church Lyttelton

07/5673

Emma Elizabeth Harris (mother)

20 August 1907

Rev. C. Coates (Anglican)

No	28
Date of Notice	20 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Edward Bruce	Caroline Harris
	💍 1907/5714
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Dressmaker
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	10 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Lyttelton
Folio	07/5673
Consent	Emma Elizabeth Harris (mother)
Date of Certificate	20 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Coates (Anglican)

20 August 1907

Ferdinand Ericksen
Caroline Elizabeth Wright

Ferdinand Ericksen
Caroline Elizabeth Wright
💍 1907/5699

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

33
21

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

16 years
21 years

The house of Samuel Wright, Jackson's Rd Lyttelton

07/5681

20 August 1907

Rev. Alfred Peters (Methodist)

No	29
Date of Notice	20 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ferdinand Ericksen	Caroline Elizabeth Wright
	💍 1907/5699
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	16 years	21 years
Marriage Place	The house of Samuel Wright, Jackson's Rd Lyttelton
Folio	07/5681
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Peters (Methodist)

7 September 1907

John Henry Nelson
Laura Grace Johnson

John Henry Nelson
Laura Grace Johnson
💍 1907/3840

Bachelor
Spinster

Mate

27
21

Lyttelton
Chertsey

2 weeks
12 years

The house of John Johnson, Chertsey

07/5694

9 September 1907

Rev. Raymond Richards (Methodist)

No	30
Date of Notice	7 September 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Nelson	Laura Grace Johnson
	💍 1907/3840
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mate
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Chertsey
Length of Residence	2 weeks	12 years
Marriage Place	The house of John Johnson, Chertsey
Folio	07/5694
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 September 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Raymond Richards (Methodist)

9 September 1907

John McIlroy
Sarah Maud Brown

John McIlroy
Sarah Maud Brown
💍 1907/5955

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer

33
26

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

3 years
14 days

The house of Sarah Brown, St. David's St. Lyttelton

07/5987

9 September 1907

Rev. John Jas. Bates (Presbyterian)

No	31
Date of Notice	9 September 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McIlroy	Sarah Maud Brown
	💍 1907/5955
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 years	14 days
Marriage Place	The house of Sarah Brown, St. David's St. Lyttelton
Folio	07/5987
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 September 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Jas. Bates (Presbyterian)

9 September 1907

James Pipe
Mary Elizabeth Miller

James Pipe
Mary Elizabeth Miller
💍 1907/5717

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Agent

40
25

Christchurch
Lyttelton

8 years
2 months

The house of Malcolm Miller, Godley Quay, Lyttelton

07/5676

9 September 1907

Rev. J. J. Bates (Presbyterian)

No	32
Date of Notice	9 September 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Pipe	Mary Elizabeth Miller
	💍 1907/5717
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Agent
Age	40	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	8 years	2 months
Marriage Place	The house of Malcolm Miller, Godley Quay, Lyttelton
Folio	07/5676
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 September 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Bates (Presbyterian)

13 September 1907

John Whitby Webb
Mary Harris

John Whitby Webb
Mary Harris
💍 1907/5974

Widower
Spinster

Fruiterer

33
25

Lyttelton
Little River

3 years
25 years

The Anglican Church, Little River

07/6031

13 September 1907

Rev. A. R. S. Holloway (Anglican)

No	33
Date of Notice	13 September 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Whitby Webb	Mary Harris
	💍 1907/5974
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Fruiterer
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Little River
Length of Residence	3 years	25 years
Marriage Place	The Anglican Church, Little River
Folio	07/6031
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 September 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. R. S. Holloway (Anglican)

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).