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 143

District of Geraldine Quarter ending 31 March 1908 Registrar A. Andrews

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

759

28 January 1908

Samuel Harper
Flora Elizabeth Bennington

Samuel Harper
Flora Elizabeth Bennington
💍 1908/1406

Bachelor
Spinster

Surfaceman on Railway
Tailoress

28
24

Geraldine
Geraldine

3 days
10 years

St. Mary's Church, Geraldine

08/1457

28 January 1908

Rev. Staples Hamilton, Church of England

No	759
Date of Notice	28 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Harper	Flora Elizabeth Bennington
	💍 1908/1406
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman on Railway	Tailoress
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Geraldine
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Geraldine
Folio	08/1457
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Staples Hamilton, Church of England

760

12 February 1908

Edward Bennett Swaysland
Margaret O'Neill

Edward Bennett Swaysland
Margaret O'Neill
💍 1908/1407

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Servant

24
24

Geraldine
Geraldine

5 days
9 weeks

St. Mary's Church, Geraldine

08/1452

12 February 1908

Rev. Staples Hamilton, Church of England

No	760
Date of Notice	12 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Bennett Swaysland	Margaret O'Neill
	💍 1908/1407
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Servant
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Geraldine
Length of Residence	5 days	9 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Geraldine
Folio	08/1452
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Staples Hamilton, Church of England

761

21 February 1908

John Charles Jenkins
Mary Ann Trearns

John Charles Jenkins
Mary Ava Kearns
💍 1908/3648

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

29
23

Peel Forest
Te Moana

29 years
23 years

Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine

08/1455

21 February 1908

Very Rev. Henry G. Bowes, Roman Catholic

No	761
Date of Notice	21 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charles Jenkins	Mary Ann Trearns
BDM Match (88%)	John Charles Jenkins	Mary Ava Kearns
	💍 1908/3648
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Peel Forest	Te Moana
Length of Residence	29 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine
Folio	08/1455
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Henry G. Bowes, Roman Catholic

762

2 March 1908

William Weaver
Elizabeth Mary Jane Campbell

William Weaver
Elizabeth Mary Jane Campbell
💍 1908/1409

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Servant

27
21

Geraldine
Katiahu

3 months
6 weeks

The House of Mr. Alexander William Campbell, Katiahu

08/1454

2 March 1908

Rev. A. Bruce Todd, Presbyterian

No	762
Date of Notice	2 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Weaver	Elizabeth Mary Jane Campbell
	💍 1908/1409
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Katiahu
Length of Residence	3 months	6 weeks
Marriage Place	The House of Mr. Alexander William Campbell, Katiahu
Folio	08/1454
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Bruce Todd, Presbyterian

763

11 March 1908

Joseph Harris
Catherine Simpson

Joseph Harris
Catherine Simpson
💍 1908/1408

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Domestic Duties

26
31

Woodbury
Woodbury

26 years
1 year

St. Thomas Church, Woodbury

08/1453

11 March 1908

Rev. Staples Hamilton, Church of England

No	763
Date of Notice	11 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Harris	Catherine Simpson
	💍 1908/1408
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	31
Dwelling Place	Woodbury	Woodbury
Length of Residence	26 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Thomas Church, Woodbury
Folio	08/1453
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Staples Hamilton, Church of England

764

23 March 1908

Ambrose Theodore Brown
Florence Eleanor Ferguson

Ambrose Theodore Brown
Florence Eleanor Fergusson
💍 1908/5111

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

24
27

Woodbury
Waihi Bush

15 months
27 years

Presbyterian Church, Geraldine

08/3599

23 March 1908

Rev. A. Bruce Todd, Presbyterian

No	764
Date of Notice	23 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ambrose Theodore Brown	Florence Eleanor Ferguson
BDM Match (98%)	Ambrose Theodore Brown	Florence Eleanor Fergusson
	💍 1908/5111
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Woodbury	Waihi Bush
Length of Residence	15 months	27 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Geraldine
Folio	08/3599
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Bruce Todd, Presbyterian

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).