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 575

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

4 March 1908

George Henry Frew
Jeannie Frew

George Henry
Jeannie Frew
💍 1908/7412

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Domestic

30
29

Liffey Street INVERCARGILL
Waikivi INVERCARGILL

30 years
2 years

Wesleyan Church

08/6026

4 March 1908

Rev. A. Mitchell

No	36
Date of Notice	4 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Frew	Jeannie Frew
BDM Match (85%)	George Henry	Jeannie Frew
	💍 1908/7412
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Liffey Street INVERCARGILL	Waikivi INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	30 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church
Folio	08/6026
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Mitchell

4 March 1908

William Taylor Belsham
Caroline Ada Belsham

William Taylor
Caroline Ade Belsham
💍 1908/1702

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Dressmaker

24
23

Kenwood South INVERCARGILL
Ettrick Street INVERCARGILL

24 years
4 years

English Church

08/1736

4 March 1908

Ven. Archdeacon Stocker

No	37
Date of Notice	4 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Taylor Belsham	Caroline Ada Belsham
BDM Match (79%)	William Taylor	Caroline Ade Belsham
	💍 1908/1702
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Dressmaker
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Kenwood South INVERCARGILL	Ettrick Street INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	24 years	4 years
Marriage Place	English Church
Folio	08/1736
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon Stocker

4 March 1908

Frank Waldron Smith
Margaret Annie Smith

Frank Waldron
Margaret Annie Smith
💍 1908/1697

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

28
23

Makarewa INVERCARGILL
Makarewa INVERCARGILL

28 years
12 years

English Church

08/1756

4 March 1908

Rev. W. Swinburn

No	38
Date of Notice	4 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Waldron Smith	Margaret Annie Smith
BDM Match (84%)	Frank Waldron	Margaret Annie Smith
	💍 1908/1697
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Makarewa INVERCARGILL	Makarewa INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	28 years	12 years
Marriage Place	English Church
Folio	08/1756
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Swinburn

9 March 1908

James Holmes Philpot
Mary Ann Philpot

James Holmes
Mary Ann Philpott
💍 1908/1696

Widower
Widow

Railway Guard
Domestic

59
50

194 Clyde Street INVERCARGILL
Ettrick Street INVERCARGILL

33 years
20 years

Residence of Mary Ann Philpot

08/1755

9 March 1908

Rev. J. W. Dunlop

No	39
Date of Notice	9 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Holmes Philpot	Mary Ann Philpot
BDM Match (77%)	James Holmes	Mary Ann Philpott
	💍 1908/1696
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Railway Guard	Domestic
Age	59	50
Dwelling Place	194 Clyde Street INVERCARGILL	Ettrick Street INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	33 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mary Ann Philpot
Folio	08/1755
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Dunlop

9 March 1908

James Stanton Kennelly
Mary Kennelly

James Stanton
Mary Kennelly
💍 1908/5537

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Domestic

30
40

Richmond Grove INVERCARGILL
Spey Street INVERCARGILL

30 years
40 years

Roman Catholic Church

08/4075

9 March 1908

Very Rev. Dean Burke

No	40
Date of Notice	9 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Stanton Kennelly	Mary Kennelly
BDM Match (80%)	James Stanton	Mary Kennelly
	💍 1908/5537
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic
Age	30	40
Dwelling Place	Richmond Grove INVERCARGILL	Spey Street INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	30 years	40 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	08/4075
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Burke

11 March 1908

Sydney Little Gadgen
Mary Gadgen

Sydney Little
Mary McFadgen
💍 1908/1729

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet-maker
Domestic

22
18

Yarrow Street INVERCARGILL
Brunan Street INVERCARGILL

6 years
5 years

Residence of Donald Gadgen

08/1766

Joshua George Williams, Judge of the Supreme Court

11 March 1908

Staff Captain E. Dixon

No	41
Date of Notice	11 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Little Gadgen	Mary Gadgen
BDM Match (71%)	Sydney Little	Mary McFadgen
	💍 1908/1729
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet-maker	Domestic
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Yarrow Street INVERCARGILL	Brunan Street INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	6 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Donald Gadgen
Folio	08/1766
Consent	Joshua George Williams, Judge of the Supreme Court
Date of Certificate	11 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Staff Captain E. Dixon

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).