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 167

District of Geraldine Quarter ending 31 March 1907 Registrar A. Andrews

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

734

13 March 1907

Samuel Stephenson Cain
Celia Tilston Swaney

Samuel Stephenson Cain
Celia Tilston Swaney
💍 1907/1246

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

22
21

Geraldine Road
Geraldine Road

11 month
3 years

Registrar's Office, Geraldine

07/1350

13 March 1907

A. Andrews, Registrar

No	734
Date of Notice	13 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Stephenson Cain	Celia Tilston Swaney
	💍 1907/1246
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Geraldine Road	Geraldine Road
Length of Residence	11 month	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Geraldine
Folio	07/1350
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1907
Officiating Minister	A. Andrews, Registrar

735

18 March 1907

Samuel Henry Turner
Lily Morris

Samuel Henry Turner
Lily Morris
💍 1907/1262

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Housekeeper

31
32

Geraldine
Geraldine

7 years
2 months

Presbyterian Church, Geraldine

07/1342

18 March 1907

Rev. A. Bruce Todd (Presbyterian)

No	735
Date of Notice	18 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Henry Turner	Lily Morris
	💍 1907/1262
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Housekeeper
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Geraldine
Length of Residence	7 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Geraldine
Folio	07/1342
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Bruce Todd (Presbyterian)

736

22 March 1907

George Loach
Ethel Rose Best

George Loach
Ethel Rose Best
💍 1907/1255

Bachelor
Spinster

Woolbuyer
Domestic Duties

23
20

Orari
Geraldine

23 years
2 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Geraldine

07/1341

John Best, Father

22 March 1907

Rev. George H. Mann (Primitive Methodist)

No	736
Date of Notice	22 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Loach	Ethel Rose Best
	💍 1907/1255
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woolbuyer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Orari	Geraldine
Length of Residence	23 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Geraldine
Folio	07/1341
Consent	John Best, Father
Date of Certificate	22 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. George H. Mann (Primitive Methodist)

737

23 March 1907

Thomas Rutherford Tindall
Ethel May Jones

Thomas Rutherford Tindall
Ethel May Jones
💍 1907/2022

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

29
23

Kakahu Bush
Kakahu Bush

29 years
23 years

Kakaku Bush School

07/2122

23 March 1907

Rev. A. Bruce Todd (Presbyterian)

No	737
Date of Notice	23 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Rutherford Tindall	Ethel May Jones
	💍 1907/2022
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Kakahu Bush	Kakahu Bush
Length of Residence	29 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Kakaku Bush School
Folio	07/2122
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Bruce Todd (Presbyterian)

738

27 March 1907

Joseph Alexander Gallie Roddick
Elsie Emily Marianne Story

Joseph Alexander Gallie Roddick
Elsie Emily Marion Story
💍 1907/1268

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Domestic Duties

26
20

Geraldine
Geraldine

3 days
1 week

St. Mary's Church, Geraldine

07/1348

Arthur Story, Father

27 March 1907

Rev. Staples Hamilton (Church of England)

No	738
Date of Notice	27 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Alexander Gallie Roddick	Elsie Emily Marianne Story
BDM Match (94%)	Joseph Alexander Gallie Roddick	Elsie Emily Marion Story
	💍 1907/1268
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Geraldine
Length of Residence	3 days	1 week
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Geraldine
Folio	07/1348
Consent	Arthur Story, Father
Date of Certificate	27 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Staples Hamilton (Church of England)

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).