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 028

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1907 Registrar William Winsbury White

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

259

13 December 1907

Cecil Wilmot Wood
Alice Moore Murphy

Cecil Wilmot-Ward
Alice Moore Murphy
💍 1907/7693

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

32
36

Newlands
Burnetts North Canterbury

3 years
36 years

Church of England

07/1563

13 December 1907

Rev. A. S. Foy

No	259
Date of Notice	13 December 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Wilmot Wood	Alice Moore Murphy
BDM Match (91%)	Cecil Wilmot-Ward	Alice Moore Murphy
	💍 1907/7693
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	32	36
Dwelling Place	Newlands	Burnetts North Canterbury
Length of Residence	3 years	36 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	07/1563
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. S. Foy

260

14 December 1907

Stanley Smith
Georgina Jane Williamson

Stanley Smith
Georgina Jane Williamson
💍 1907/7557

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
domestic duties

30
30

Ashburton
Allenton

3 days
30 years

at the dwelling of Georgina Jane Williamson, Groatie Burn, Allenton

07/1341

14 December 1907

Rev. John Mackenzie, M.A.

No	260
Date of Notice	14 December 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Smith	Georgina Jane Williamson
	💍 1907/7557
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	domestic duties
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Allenton
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of Georgina Jane Williamson, Groatie Burn, Allenton
Folio	07/1341
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Mackenzie, M.A.

261

18 December 1907

James Henry Watt
Annie Kathleen Norman

James Henry Watt
Annie Kathleen Norman
💍 1907/7546

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

28
31

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
31 years

Presbyterian Church at Ashburton

07/1330

18 December 1907

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	261
Date of Notice	18 December 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Watt	Annie Kathleen Norman
	💍 1907/7546
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	28	31
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	31 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church at Ashburton
Folio	07/1330
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 December 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

262

21 December 1907

Edwin Charles Weeking
Ellen Serana Lloyd

Edwin Charles Meeking
Ellen Serena Lloyd
💍 1907/7558

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
domestic duties

30
33

Ashburton
Allenton

1 week
3 years

at the dwelling of Joseph Lloyd, Allenton

07/1342

21 December 1907

Rev. R. J. Liddell

No	262
Date of Notice	21 December 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Charles Weeking	Ellen Serana Lloyd
BDM Match (95%)	Edwin Charles Meeking	Ellen Serena Lloyd
	💍 1907/7558
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	domestic duties
Age	30	33
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Allenton
Length of Residence	1 week	3 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of Joseph Lloyd, Allenton
Folio	07/1342
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Liddell

263

21 December 1907

Frederick Bradshaw Robinson
Elizabeth Buchanan Martin

Frederick Bradshaw Robinson
Elizabeth Buchanan Martin
💍 1907/8232

Bachelor
Spinster

Store-Keeper
domestic duties

25
25

Tinwald
Tinwald

20 years
25 years

Church of England at Tinwald

07/1335

21 December 1907

Rev. B. G. Foy

No	263
Date of Notice	21 December 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Bradshaw Robinson	Elizabeth Buchanan Martin
	💍 1907/8232
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Store-Keeper	domestic duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Tinwald
Length of Residence	20 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Church of England at Tinwald
Folio	07/1335
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. G. Foy

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).