Intentions to Marry, 1908 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840438, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1908 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1908a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1908b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1908c).

Page 009

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1908 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

265

2 January 1908

Arthur Henry Aston
Mary Rebecca Willers

Arthur Henry Aston
Mary Rebecca Willers
💍 1908/1220

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm laborer
Domestic duties

29
30

Tirirawa
Allenton

18 months
30 years

Primitive Methodist Church Ashburton

08/1259

2 January 1908

Rev. R. Liddell

No	265
Date of Notice	2 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Aston	Mary Rebecca Willers
	💍 1908/1220
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm laborer	Domestic duties
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Tirirawa	Allenton
Length of Residence	18 months	30 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church Ashburton
Folio	08/1259
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Liddell

266

2 January 1908

Edward Walker
Jane Skilling

Edward Walker
Jane Skilling
💍 1908/1209

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic duties

58
50

Riverside
Ashburton

12 months
12 months

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

08/1255

James Skilling, father

2 January 1908

W. W. White, Registrar

No	266
Date of Notice	2 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Walker	Jane Skilling
	💍 1908/1209
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic duties
Age	58	50
Dwelling Place	Riverside	Ashburton
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	08/1255
Consent	James Skilling, father
Date of Certificate	2 January 1908
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

267

29 January 1908

Alfred Francis Munro Mason
Lucy Edith Rickman

Alfred Francis Munro Mason
Lucy Edith Rickman
💍 1908/1242

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock dealer
Lady Help

39
39

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
15 years

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

08/1265

29 January 1908

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	267
Date of Notice	29 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Francis Munro Mason	Lucy Edith Rickman
	💍 1908/1242
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock dealer	Lady Help
Age	39	39
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	15 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	08/1265
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

268

29 January 1908

Thomas Christopher Christensen
Angelina Lily Wills

Thomas Christopher Christensen
Angelina Lily Mills
💍 1908/4841

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Domestic duties

28
23

Allenton
Westerfield

18 months
3 days

at the dwelling of George Pocock, Marama, Westerfield

08/3319

29 January 1908

Rev. B. G. Fose

No	268
Date of Notice	29 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Christopher Christensen	Angelina Lily Wills
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Christopher Christensen	Angelina Lily Mills
	💍 1908/4841
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Westerfield
Length of Residence	18 months	3 days
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of George Pocock, Marama, Westerfield
Folio	08/3319
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. G. Fose

269

30 January 1908

James Austin Sheridan
Frances Ethel Brown

James Austin Sheridan
Frances Ethel Brown
💍 1908/1243

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor
Domestic duties

31
21

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
3 months

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

08/1266

30 January 1908

Rev. B. Whitehouse

No	269
Date of Notice	30 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Austin Sheridan	Frances Ethel Brown
	💍 1908/1243
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor	Domestic duties
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	08/1266
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Whitehouse

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).