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 018

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1907

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

215

15 May 1907

Arthur Dailter
Lucy Willers

Arthur Painter
Lucy Willers
💍 1907/4149

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

34
28

Ruapuna
Allenton

30 years
28 years

Methodist Church, Ashburton

07/3227

15 May 1907

Rev. R. J. Liddell

No	215
Date of Notice	15 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Dailter	Lucy Willers
BDM Match (93%)	Arthur Painter	Lucy Willers
	💍 1907/4149
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Ruapuna	Allenton
Length of Residence	30 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Ashburton
Folio	07/3227
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Liddell

216

30 May 1907

Frank Brunn
Annie Jackson

Frank Crum
Annie Jackson
💍 1907/4150

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
domestic duties

56
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

56 years
6 years

Methodist Church, Ashburton

07/3228

30 May 1907

Rev. R. J. Liddell

No	216
Date of Notice	30 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Brunn	Annie Jackson
BDM Match (86%)	Frank Crum	Annie Jackson
	💍 1907/4150
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	domestic duties
Age	56	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	56 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Ashburton
Folio	07/3228
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Liddell

217

31 May 1907

George Hayden Smith
Jessie Florence Gollins

George Hayden Smith
Jessie Florence Gollins
💍 1907/3185

Bachelor
Spinster

Waterman
domestic duties

24
22

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
18 days

Church of England at Waterton

07/3232

31 May 1907

Rev. B. G. Foy

No	217
Date of Notice	31 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Hayden Smith	Jessie Florence Gollins
	💍 1907/3185
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waterman	domestic duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	18 days
Marriage Place	Church of England at Waterton
Folio	07/3232
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. G. Foy

218

25 May 1907

Robert Anderson Fleming
Margaret Elsie Hay

Robert Anderson Fleming
Margaret Elsie Hay
💍 1907/4144

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Manager
Nurse

38
20

Lismore
Lismore

8 years
5 months

The School at Lismore

07/3223

Roland William Hay, Guardian

25 May 1907

Rev. William Hair

No	218
Date of Notice	25 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Anderson Fleming	Margaret Elsie Hay
	💍 1907/4144
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Manager	Nurse
Age	38	20
Dwelling Place	Lismore	Lismore
Length of Residence	8 years	5 months
Marriage Place	The School at Lismore
Folio	07/3223
Consent	Roland William Hay, Guardian
Date of Certificate	25 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Hair

219

28 May 1907

Alfred Thomas Ashton
Mary Ann Patterson

Alfred Thomas Ashton
Mary Ann Patterson
💍 1907/3392

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

29
25

Lowcliff
Riverside, Wakami

29 years
10 years

St. Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

07/4137

28 May 1907

Rev. B. Whitehouse

No	219
Date of Notice	28 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Thomas Ashton	Mary Ann Patterson
	💍 1907/3392
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Lowcliff	Riverside, Wakami
Length of Residence	29 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	07/4137
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Whitehouse

220

3 June 1907

Donald Fraser Mackenzie
Annabella Finlayson

Donald Fraser Mackenzie
Annie Bella Finlayson
💍 1907/4152

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
domestic duties

59
37

Ashburton
Tinwald

3 days
7 days

At the dwelling of Mrs. Jane Finlayson at Tinwald

07/3230

3 June 1907

Rev. J. B. Paterson, M.A.

No	220
Date of Notice	3 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Fraser Mackenzie	Annabella Finlayson
BDM Match (91%)	Donald Fraser Mackenzie	Annie Bella Finlayson
	💍 1907/4152
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	domestic duties
Age	59	37
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Tinwald
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of Mrs. Jane Finlayson at Tinwald
Folio	07/3230
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 June 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Paterson, M.A.

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).