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 013

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 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

284

1 April 1908

Peter Tutty
Margaret Wilson

Peter Tutty
Margaret Wilson
💍 1908/4870

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
domestic duties

50
28

Hampstead
Kakanui

20 years
7 years

Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

08/3325

George Henry Tutty, father of minor

1 April 1908

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	284
Date of Notice	1 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Tutty	Margaret Wilson
	💍 1908/4870
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	domestic duties
Age	50	28
Dwelling Place	Hampstead	Kakanui
Length of Residence	20 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	08/3325
Consent	George Henry Tutty, father of minor
Date of Certificate	1 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

285

1 April 1908

Henry Arthur Busell Bullock
Emily Brooks

Henry Arthur Insel Bullock
Emily Crooks
💍 1908/4871

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Fireman
domestic duties

23
27

Ashburton
Hampstead

3 months
3 weeks

Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

08/3326

1 April 1908

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	285
Date of Notice	1 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Arthur Busell Bullock	Emily Brooks
BDM Match (90%)	Henry Arthur Insel Bullock	Emily Crooks
	💍 1908/4871
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Fireman	domestic duties
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Hampstead
Length of Residence	3 months	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	08/3326
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

286

6 April 1908

Edward James McGuigan
Ruby Marion Violet Bobeldick

Edward James McGuigan
Ruby Marion Violet Cobeldick
💍 1908/6994

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
domestic duties

28
21

Braecroft
Carew

6 months
12 years

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

08/3569

6 April 1908

Rev. I. I. O'Donnell

No	286
Date of Notice	6 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward James McGuigan	Ruby Marion Violet Bobeldick
BDM Match (98%)	Edward James McGuigan	Ruby Marion Violet Cobeldick
	💍 1908/6994
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	domestic duties
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Braecroft	Carew
Length of Residence	6 months	12 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	08/3569
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. I. O'Donnell

287

6 April 1908

George Herbert Barson
Eva Collingwood Jones

George Herbert Carson
Eva Collingwood Jones
💍 1908/4868

Bachelor
Spinster

Cycle Engineer
domestic duties

28
28

Ashburton
Ashburton

48 years
28 years

Wesleyan Church, Baring Square, Ashburton

08/3323

6 April 1908

Rev. H. E. Bellhouse

No	287
Date of Notice	6 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Herbert Barson	Eva Collingwood Jones
BDM Match (98%)	George Herbert Carson	Eva Collingwood Jones
	💍 1908/4868
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cycle Engineer	domestic duties
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	48 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Baring Square, Ashburton
Folio	08/3323
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Bellhouse

288

10 April 1908

Walter William Andrews
Florence Jane Anthony

Walter William Andrews
Florence Jane Anthony
💍 1908/5687

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper's Assistant
Weaver

29
26

Ashburton
Allenton

5 years
26 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Ashburton

08/4225

10 April 1908

Rev. G. H. Hiddell

No	288
Date of Notice	10 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter William Andrews	Florence Jane Anthony
	💍 1908/5687
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper's Assistant	Weaver
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Allenton
Length of Residence	5 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Ashburton
Folio	08/4225
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Hiddell

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).