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 333

District of Blueskin Quarter ending 31 March 1908 Registrar Francis Hilgendorf

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

184

9 January 1908

Archibald Clark
Ettie Elizabeth Muddell

Archibald Clark
Ettie Elizabeth Muddell
💍 1908/1515

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

23
21

Waitati
Waitati

23 years
7 years

Residence of Mrs Muddell, Waitati

08/1567

9 January 1908

Rev. A. W. Finlayson

No	184
Date of Notice	9 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Clark	Ettie Elizabeth Muddell
	💍 1908/1515
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Waitati	Waitati
Length of Residence	23 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Muddell, Waitati
Folio	08/1567
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. Finlayson

185

14 January 1908

William Joseph Thomas
Jane Marion Adamson

William Joseph Thomas
Jane Marion Adamson
💍 1908/1598

Widower
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

33
35

Seacliff
Dunedin

8 years
4 years

First Church, Dunedin

08/1655

14 January 1908

Rev. Dr. Nisbet

No	185
Date of Notice	14 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph Thomas	Jane Marion Adamson
	💍 1908/1598
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	33	35
Dwelling Place	Seacliff	Dunedin
Length of Residence	8 years	4 years
Marriage Place	First Church, Dunedin
Folio	08/1655
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. Nisbet

186

10 March 1908

Robert Miller
Annie Euphemia Russell

Robert Miller
Annie Euphemia Russell
💍 1908/3879

Widower
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic duties

48
31

Seacliff
Seacliff

5.5 years
31 years

Residence of Miss Agnes Russell, Seacliff

08/1569

10 March 1908

Rev. A. W. Finlayson

No	186
Date of Notice	10 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Miller	Annie Euphemia Russell
	💍 1908/3879
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	48	31
Dwelling Place	Seacliff	Seacliff
Length of Residence	5.5 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Miss Agnes Russell, Seacliff
Folio	08/1569
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. Finlayson

187

12 March 1908

Andrew Thorburn
Agnes Mabel Kilpatrick

Andrew Thorburn
Agnes Mabel Kilpatrick
💍 1908/1516

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's Assistant
Domestic duties

22
19

Waitati
Waitati

2 years
19 years

Residence of Mr. Alexander Kilpatrick, Waitati

08/1568

Alexander Kilpatrick

12 March 1908

Rev. A. W. Finlayson

No	187
Date of Notice	12 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Thorburn	Agnes Mabel Kilpatrick
	💍 1908/1516
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's Assistant	Domestic duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Waitati	Waitati
Length of Residence	2 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Alexander Kilpatrick, Waitati
Folio	08/1568
Consent	Alexander Kilpatrick
Date of Certificate	12 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. Finlayson

188

24 March 1908

Andrew Findlay
Janet Stark

Andrew Findlay
Janet Stark
💍 1908/1517

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Saleswoman

38
31

Warrington
Warrington

3 days
1 year

Residence of Francis H. Stark, Warrington

08/1570

24 March 1908

Rev. William H. Howes

No	188
Date of Notice	24 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Findlay	Janet Stark
	💍 1908/1517
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Saleswoman
Age	38	31
Dwelling Place	Warrington	Warrington
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Francis H. Stark, Warrington
Folio	08/1570
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. William H. Howes

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).