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 569

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1908 Registrar John Gaunson Petrie

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

207

23 December 1907

James Henry Pink
Irene Watson

James Henry Pink
Irene Watson
💍 1908/1705

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill-hand
Domestic

32
20

Waianawa
Gladstone, Invercargill

25 years
9 years

Presbyterian Church, Invercargill

08/1739

Declaration, no person resident in the colony having authority.

4 January 1908

Rev. A. D. Kirkland

No	207
Date of Notice	23 December 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Pink	Irene Watson
	💍 1908/1705
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill-hand	Domestic
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Waianawa	Gladstone, Invercargill
Length of Residence	25 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Invercargill
Folio	08/1739
Consent	Declaration, no person resident in the colony having authority.
Date of Certificate	4 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. D. Kirkland

208

3 January 1908

Arthur Douglas Hew
Edith Lilian Brown

Arthur Douglas Kerr
Edith Lilian Brown
💍 1908/7411

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger Salesman
School teacher

27
29

Avenal, Invercargill
Avenal, Invercargill

3 days
29 years

Wesleyan Church, Leet Street, Invercargill

08/6025

3 January 1908

Rev. A. Mitchell

No	208
Date of Notice	3 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Douglas Hew	Edith Lilian Brown
BDM Match (92%)	Arthur Douglas Kerr	Edith Lilian Brown
	💍 1908/7411
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger Salesman	School teacher
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Avenal, Invercargill	Avenal, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	29 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Leet Street, Invercargill
Folio	08/6025
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Mitchell

209

4 January 1908

Frederic Victor Piper
Ethel Blanche Wesney

Frederick Victor Piper
Ethel Blanche Wesney
💍 1908/7410

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic

24
23

Don Street, Invercargill
Don Street, Invercargill

2 weeks
23 years

Wesleyan Church, Leet Street, Invercargill

08/6074

4 January 1908

Rev. A. Mitchell

No	209
Date of Notice	4 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederic Victor Piper	Ethel Blanche Wesney
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Victor Piper	Ethel Blanche Wesney
	💍 1908/7410
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Don Street, Invercargill	Don Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 weeks	23 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Leet Street, Invercargill
Folio	08/6074
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Mitchell

210

8 January 1908

Charles Fredrick Port
Rose Veronica Fahey

Charles Frederick Port
Rose Veronica Fahey
💍 1908/5532

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

26
27

Roslyn Bush, Invercargill
Roslyn Bush, Invercargill

3 days
27 years

Residence of Nora Fahey, Roslyn Bush, Invercargill

08/4070

8 January 1908

Rev. James O'Malley

No	210
Date of Notice	8 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Fredrick Port	Rose Veronica Fahey
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Frederick Port	Rose Veronica Fahey
	💍 1908/5532
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Roslyn Bush, Invercargill	Roslyn Bush, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Nora Fahey, Roslyn Bush, Invercargill
Folio	08/4070
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. James O'Malley

211

9 January 1908

James Alexander Cowie
Helen Stephen Baird

James Alexander Cowie
Helen Stephen Baird
💍 1908/1782

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner
Medical Practitioner

33
32

Masterton
Invercargill

18 months
1 month

Residence of James Baird, Spey Street, Invercargill

08/1845

9 January 1908

Rev. James Baird

No	211
Date of Notice	9 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alexander Cowie	Helen Stephen Baird
	💍 1908/1782
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner	Medical Practitioner
Age	33	32
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Invercargill
Length of Residence	18 months	1 month
Marriage Place	Residence of James Baird, Spey Street, Invercargill
Folio	08/1845
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Baird

212

10 January 1908

Arthur Henry Stock
Muriel Jane Rowley

Arthur Henry Stock
Muriel Jane Rowley
💍 1908/1699

Divorced
Spinster

Bank Clerk
Hospital Nurse

50
33

Napier
Tweed Street, Invercargill

2 years
4 days

English Church, Tay Street, Napier

08/1733

10 January 1908

Ven. Archdeacon Stock

No	212
Date of Notice	10 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Stock	Muriel Jane Rowley
	💍 1908/1699
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	Hospital Nurse
Age	50	33
Dwelling Place	Napier	Tweed Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	4 days
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay Street, Napier
Folio	08/1733
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon Stock

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).