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 022

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 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

729

29 July 1907

William Bruckshaw
Ellen Applebee

William Bruckshaw
Ellen Applebee
💍 1907/3812

Widower
Widow

Farmer
domestic duties

66
53

Willowby
Willowby

9 years
2 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

07/5465

29 July 1907

W. W. White Registrar

No	729
Date of Notice	29 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Bruckshaw	Ellen Applebee
	💍 1907/3812
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	66	53
Dwelling Place	Willowby	Willowby
Length of Residence	9 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	07/5465
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1907
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

730

29 July 1907

William Hugh Jeffs
Alice Louisa Porter

William Hugh Jeffs
Alice Louisa Porter
💍 1907/5953

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
domestic duties

28
26

Ashburton
Trevorlon

2½ years
4 years

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

07/6008

29 July 1907

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	730
Date of Notice	29 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hugh Jeffs	Alice Louisa Porter
	💍 1907/5953
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	domestic duties
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Trevorlon
Length of Residence	2½ years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	07/6008
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

731

29 July 1907

Conrad Baierle
Martha Heasley

Conrad Bauerle
Martha Heasley
💍 1907/3749

Bachelor
Spinster

laborer
domestic duties

28
25

Eiffelton
dwelling of James Heasley, Eiffelton

18 months
25 years

All the dwelling

07/5477

29 July 1907

Rev. G. Standage

No	731
Date of Notice	29 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Conrad Baierle	Martha Heasley
BDM Match (96%)	Conrad Bauerle	Martha Heasley
	💍 1907/3749
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	laborer	domestic duties
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Eiffelton	dwelling of James Heasley, Eiffelton
Length of Residence	18 months	25 years
Marriage Place	All the dwelling
Folio	07/5477
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Standage

732

2 August 1907

Mark Wilson Cooper
Alice Maud Shore

Mark Nelson Cooper
Alice Maud Shore
💍 1907/5961

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
domestic duties

28
23

Ashburton
Ashburton

28 years
14 days

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

07/6009

2 August 1907

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	732
Date of Notice	2 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mark Wilson Cooper	Alice Maud Shore
BDM Match (94%)	Mark Nelson Cooper	Alice Maud Shore
	💍 1907/5961
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	domestic duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	28 years	14 days
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	07/6009
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

733

3 August 1907

Frederick Porter
Mabel Margaret Watson McKee

Frederick Porter
Mabel Margaret Watson McKee
💍 1907/3767

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Station Master
dress-maker

28
22

Ashburton
Trevorlon

4 days
5½ years

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

07/5471

3 August 1907

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	733
Date of Notice	3 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Porter	Mabel Margaret Watson McKee
	💍 1907/3767
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Station Master	dress-maker
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Trevorlon
Length of Residence	4 days	5½ years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	07/5471
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).