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 023

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 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

330

3 October 1908

Frederic Richard Hyde
Margaret Elizabeth Rowntree

Frederick Richard Hyde
Margaret Elizabeth Rountree
💍 1908/2745

Bachelor
Spinster

Gas Fitter
domestic duties

29
21

Ashburton
Tinwald

29 years
21 years

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

08/7487

3 October 1908

Rev E. Whitehouse

No	330
Date of Notice	3 October 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederic Richard Hyde	Margaret Elizabeth Rowntree
BDM Match (96%)	Frederick Richard Hyde	Margaret Elizabeth Rountree
	💍 1908/2745
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gas Fitter	domestic duties
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Tinwald
Length of Residence	29 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	08/7487
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev E. Whitehouse

331

7 October 1908

Henry Alfred Lamb
Florence Elma Hall

Henry Alfred Laink
Florence Elma Hall
💍 1908/2781

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
domestic duties

25
22

Ashburton
Ashburton

4 years
18 months

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

08/7499

7 October 1908

W. W. White Registrar

No	331
Date of Notice	7 October 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Alfred Lamb	Florence Elma Hall
BDM Match (92%)	Henry Alfred Laink	Florence Elma Hall
	💍 1908/2781
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	domestic duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	08/7499
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1908
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

332

13 October 1908

Alfred Collins
Hannah Maria Tyson

Alfred Collins
Hannah Maria Tyson
💍 1908/2746

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward
domestic duties

30
37

Christchurch
Ashburton

3 days
14 days

Central Hotel Ashburton

08/7488

13 October 1908

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	332
Date of Notice	13 October 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Collins	Hannah Maria Tyson
	💍 1908/2746
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward	domestic duties
Age	30	37
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Central Hotel Ashburton
Folio	08/7488
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

333

19 October 1908

Stephen Francis Barnett
Nellie Donovan

Stephen Francis Barnett
Nellie Donovan
💍 1908/3564

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist
Dress maker

24
26

Christchurch
Ashburton

3 days
6 Months

St Roman Catholic Church Ashburton

08/8393

19 October 1908

Rev. J. J. O'Donnell

No	333
Date of Notice	19 October 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Francis Barnett	Nellie Donovan
	💍 1908/3564
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist	Dress maker
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	6 Months
Marriage Place	St Roman Catholic Church Ashburton
Folio	08/8393
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. O'Donnell

334

27 October 1908

Percival Walter Thomas
Elsie Maud Stevens

Percival Walter Thomas
Elsie Maud Stevens
💍 1908/2785

Bachelor
Spinster

Produce dealer
domestic duties

26
22

Ashburton
Ashburton

25 years
22 years

Wesleyan Church Waterton

08/7503

27 October 1908

Rev. H. E. Bellhouse

No	334
Date of Notice	27 October 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Walter Thomas	Elsie Maud Stevens
	💍 1908/2785
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Produce dealer	domestic duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	25 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church Waterton
Folio	08/7503
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 October 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Bellhouse

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).