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 285

District of Waimate Quarter ending 31 March 1908 Registrar M. Dennott

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

11 January 1908

Charles Walker
Rose Smith

Charles Walker Foreman
Rose Smith
💍 1908/5178

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

31
30

Dunedin
Waimate

6 years
30 years

Residence of R. Brain, Waimate

08/3694

11 January 1908

Rev. A. S. Morrison

No	1
Date of Notice	11 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Walker	Rose Smith
BDM Match (82%)	Charles Walker Foreman	Rose Smith
	💍 1908/5178
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Waimate
Length of Residence	6 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Residence of R. Brain, Waimate
Folio	08/3694
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. S. Morrison

15 February 1908

Charles Watersons
Beatrice Annie Loper

Charles Waterreus
Beatrice Annie Loper
💍 1908/3649

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

31
26

Waimate
Waimate

14 days
20 years

Residence of John Loper, Waimate

08/1578

15 February 1908

Rev. J. Harris

No	2
Date of Notice	15 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Watersons	Beatrice Annie Loper
BDM Match (91%)	Charles Waterreus	Beatrice Annie Loper
	💍 1908/3649
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	14 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Loper, Waimate
Folio	08/1578
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Harris

22 February 1908

Samuel Laird
Catherine Monica Flaherty

Samuel Laird
Catherine Monica Feaherty
💍 1908/5179

Widower
Spinster

Carrier

29
32

Waimate
Waimate

29 years
10 years

Catholic Church, Waimate

08/3695

22 February 1908

Rev. J. Tymons

No	3
Date of Notice	22 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Laird	Catherine Monica Flaherty
BDM Match (98%)	Samuel Laird	Catherine Monica Feaherty
	💍 1908/5179
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	29	32
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	29 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Waimate
Folio	08/3695
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Tymons

7 March 1908

John Wall
Jessie Jane Tavendale

John Wall
Jessie Jane Tavendale
💍 1908/5187

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
20

Kapua
Kapua

3 years
16 years

Residence of J. Tavendale, Kapua

08/3696

Jas. Tavendale, father

7 March 1908

Rev. A. S. Morrison

No	4
Date of Notice	7 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wall	Jessie Jane Tavendale
	💍 1908/5187
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Kapua	Kapua
Length of Residence	3 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. Tavendale, Kapua
Folio	08/3696
Consent	Jas. Tavendale, father
Date of Certificate	7 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. S. Morrison

14 March 1908

William John Runting
Rebecca Young

William John Bunting
Rebecca Young
💍 1908/1470

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

48
20

MaKiKiki
MaKiKiki

20 years
5 years

St. Augustines Church, Waimate

08/1519

Mary Young, mother

14 March 1908

Rev. H. K. Gibson

No	5
Date of Notice	14 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Runting	Rebecca Young
BDM Match (98%)	William John Bunting	Rebecca Young
	💍 1908/1470
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	48	20
Dwelling Place	MaKiKiki	MaKiKiki
Length of Residence	20 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustines Church, Waimate
Folio	08/1519
Consent	Mary Young, mother
Date of Certificate	14 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. K. Gibson

24 March 1908

James Alexander McIllwrick
Mabel Opie

James Alexander McHurich
Mabel Opie
💍 1908/3876

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
23

Balfour
Waimate

3 years
20 years

St. Augustines Church, Waimate

08/1520

24 March 1908

Rev. H. K. Gibson

No	6
Date of Notice	24 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alexander McIllwrick	Mabel Opie
BDM Match (90%)	James Alexander McHurich	Mabel Opie
	💍 1908/3876
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Balfour	Waimate
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustines Church, Waimate
Folio	08/1520
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. K. Gibson

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).