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 011

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

275

12 February 1908

Godfrey Llewellyn Prichard
Frances Tolty

Godfrey Llewellyn Prichard
Frances Totty
💍 1908/1245

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

24
22

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
22 years

St Stephen's Church of England Ashburton

08/1268

12 February 1908

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	275
Date of Notice	12 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Godfrey Llewellyn Prichard	Frances Tolty
BDM Match (96%)	Godfrey Llewellyn Prichard	Frances Totty
	💍 1908/1245
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	St Stephen's Church of England Ashburton
Folio	08/1268
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

276

26 February 1908

Alexander Black Gilmour
Margaret Wilson Davidson

Alexander Black Gilmour
Margaret Wilson Davidson
💍 1908/1221

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
domestic duties

29
29

Ashburton
Allenton

3 days
14 days

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

08/1260

26 February 1908

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	276
Date of Notice	26 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Black Gilmour	Margaret Wilson Davidson
	💍 1908/1221
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	domestic duties
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Allenton
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	08/1260
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

277

8 March 1908

Donald James Hardell
Annie Mary Buchanan

Donald James Wardell
Annie Mary Buchanan
💍 1908/1211

Bachelor
Widow

Shearer
domestic duties

37
33

Tinwald
Tinwald

3 years
3 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

08/1257

8 March 1908

W. W. White, Registrar

No	277
Date of Notice	8 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald James Hardell	Annie Mary Buchanan
BDM Match (98%)	Donald James Wardell	Annie Mary Buchanan
	💍 1908/1211
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Shearer	domestic duties
Age	37	33
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Tinwald
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	08/1257
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1908
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

278

10 March 1908

David Lusk
Charlotte Gale

David Lusk
Charlotte Gale
💍 1908/1222

Widower
Spinster

Carpenter
domestic duties

48
29

Ashburton
Ashburton

7 years
7 years

at the dwelling of Edward Gale Ashburton

08/1261

10 March 1908

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	278
Date of Notice	10 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Lusk	Charlotte Gale
	💍 1908/1222
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	domestic duties
Age	48	29
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of Edward Gale Ashburton
Folio	08/1261
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

279

19 March 1908

Albert Montague Keeley
Sobina Good

Albert Montague Keeley
Sobina Good
💍 1908/1212

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
dressmaker

23
22

Ashburton
Ashburton

2 months
22 years

Baptist Church Ashburton

08/1258

19 March 1908

Rev. W. G. Lawberh

No	279
Date of Notice	19 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Montague Keeley	Sobina Good
	💍 1908/1212
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	dressmaker
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	2 months	22 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Ashburton
Folio	08/1258
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Lawberh

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).