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 055

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1907 Registrar L. C. Williams

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

177

6 March 1907

John Brownlow Griffiths
Bertha Stuart Walker

John Brownlow Griffiths
Bertha Stuart Walker
💍 1907/8185

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

22
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
24 years

Church of England, Addington

07/1233

6 March 1907

Rev. H. S. Bean, Anglican

No	177
Date of Notice	6 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Brownlow Griffiths	Bertha Stuart Walker
	💍 1907/8185
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Addington
Folio	07/1233
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Bean, Anglican

178

6 March 1907

John Edward Hutchinson
Helen Chapman

John Edward Hutchinson
Helen Chapman
💍 1907/1184

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

29
25

Christchurch
Linwood

3 days
3 years

House of Mr Chapman, 60 Armagh St, Linwood

07/1289

6 March 1907

Rev. D. I. Erwin, Presbyterian

No	178
Date of Notice	6 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edward Hutchinson	Helen Chapman
	💍 1907/1184
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr Chapman, 60 Armagh St, Linwood
Folio	07/1289
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. I. Erwin, Presbyterian

179

6 March 1907

William Morley Evans
Gertrude Helen Stevenson

William Morley Evans
Gertrude Helen Stevenson
💍 1907/1154

Bachelor
Spinster

Window dresser
Nurse

24
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 year
10 days

St Peter's, Woolston

07/1258

6 March 1907

Rev. T. McDonald, Presbyterian

No	179
Date of Notice	6 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Morley Evans	Gertrude Helen Stevenson
	💍 1907/1154
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Window dresser	Nurse
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	10 days
Marriage Place	St Peter's, Woolston
Folio	07/1258
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. McDonald, Presbyterian

180

6 March 1907

George Arthur French
Ada Selina Schaab

George Arthur Winch
Ada Selina Schaab
💍 1907/1091

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

36
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
4 days

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

07/1164

6 March 1907

L. C. Williams, Registrar

No	180
Date of Notice	6 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Arthur French	Ada Selina Schaab
BDM Match (93%)	George Arthur Winch	Ada Selina Schaab
	💍 1907/1091
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	36	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	07/1164
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1907
Officiating Minister	L. C. Williams, Registrar

181

6 March 1907

Robert Henry North
Ruby Ruth Berry

Robert Henry North
Ruby Ruth Berry
💍 1907/1092

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher

22
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
Life

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

07/1165

6 March 1907

L. C. Williams, Registrar

No	181
Date of Notice	6 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Henry North	Ruby Ruth Berry
	💍 1907/1092
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	07/1165
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1907
Officiating Minister	L. C. Williams, Registrar

182

7 March 1907

Duncan Munro
Mary Ann Moss

Duncan Munro
Mary Ann Moss
💍 1907/1110

Widower
Divorced (Decree absolute 16 July 1886)

Cabman
Cook

61
51

Christchurch
Christchurch

30 years
2 months

House of Mr Crosbie, 25 Chester St, Christchurch

07/1208

7 March 1907

Rev. J. Mackenzie, Presbyterian

No	182
Date of Notice	7 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duncan Munro	Mary Ann Moss
	💍 1907/1110
Condition	Widower	Divorced (Decree absolute 16 July 1886)
Profession	Cabman	Cook
Age	61	51
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	30 years	2 months
Marriage Place	House of Mr Crosbie, 25 Chester St, Christchurch
Folio	07/1208
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Mackenzie, Presbyterian

183

7 March 1907

Henry John Mogridge
Daisy Mabel Smith

Henry John Mugridge
Daisy Mabel Smith
💍 1907/1046

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

24
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
Life

Methodist Church, Durham St, Christchurch

07/1118

7 March 1907

Rev. H. G. R. Dewsbury, Methodist

No	183
Date of Notice	7 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Mogridge	Daisy Mabel Smith
BDM Match (97%)	Henry John Mugridge	Daisy Mabel Smith
	💍 1907/1046
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	Life
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Durham St, Christchurch
Folio	07/1118
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. R. Dewsbury, Methodist

184

8 March 1907

Cosmo Augustus Ralston
Eleanor Mabel Beatrice Gertrude Merrial Edith Webb

Cosmo Augustus Ralston
Eleanor Mabel Beatrice Gertrude Muriel Edith Webb
💍 1907/4830

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
31

Wellington
Christchurch

16 months
6 days

St. Matthew's, Wellington and St. Alban's

07/1470

8 March 1907

Rev. J. H. Rogers, Anglican

No	184
Date of Notice	8 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cosmo Augustus Ralston	Eleanor Mabel Beatrice Gertrude Merrial Edith Webb
BDM Match (97%)	Cosmo Augustus Ralston	Eleanor Mabel Beatrice Gertrude Muriel Edith Webb
	💍 1907/4830
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Christchurch
Length of Residence	16 months	6 days
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's, Wellington and St. Alban's
Folio	07/1470
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Rogers, 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).