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 577

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

21 March 1908

Alfred Emmanuel Smith
Louisa Ragnhilde Petersen

Alfred Emmanuel Smith
Louisa Ragnhilde Petersen
💍 1908/5531

Bachelor
Spinster

Gold-miner
Domestic

30
24

Upper Shotover, Lake County
Yiviot Street, INVERCARGILL

30 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Waketipu

08/4061

21 March 1908

Rev. F. W. Dunlop

No	48
Date of Notice	21 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Emmanuel Smith	Louisa Ragnhilde Petersen
	💍 1908/5531
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gold-miner	Domestic
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Upper Shotover, Lake County	Yiviot Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	30 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Waketipu
Folio	08/4061
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Dunlop

24 March 1908

William Alexander Cockburn
Jessie Mabel Weir

William Alexander Cockburn
Jessie Mabel Weir
💍 1908/1693

Widower
Spinster

Clerk
Housekeeper

37
24

Thames Street, INVERCARGILL
Thames Street, INVERCARGILL

1 year
1 year

Residence of Rev. Geo. Lindsay, Kelvin Street, INVERCARGILL

08/1751

24 March 1908

Rev. Geo. Lindsay

No	49
Date of Notice	24 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Cockburn	Jessie Mabel Weir
	💍 1908/1693
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Housekeeper
Age	37	24
Dwelling Place	Thames Street, INVERCARGILL	Thames Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. Geo. Lindsay, Kelvin Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	08/1751
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Lindsay

24 March 1908

William Vincent Dwyer
Mary Josephine Dwyer

William Vincent
Mary Josephine Dwyer
💍 1908/5538

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

22
23

Elles Road South, INVERCARGILL
Tramway Road South, INVERCARGILL

22 years
23 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, INVERCARGILL

08/4076

24 March 1908

Very Rev. Dean Burke

No	50
Date of Notice	24 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Vincent Dwyer	Mary Josephine Dwyer
BDM Match (86%)	William Vincent	Mary Josephine Dwyer
	💍 1908/5538
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Elles Road South, INVERCARGILL	Tramway Road South, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	22 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	08/4076
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Burke

25 March 1908

John Thomson Campbell
Margaret Maud Campbell

John Thomson
Margaret Maud Campbell
💍 1908/1694

Bachelor
Spinster

Boiler-maker
Domestic

34
21

82 Leet Street, INVERCARGILL
Yay Street, INVERCARGILL

6 months
3 days

Residence of Rev. Geo. Lindsay, Kelvin Street, INVERCARGILL

08/1752

25 March 1908

Rev. Geo. Lindsay

No	51
Date of Notice	25 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomson Campbell	Margaret Maud Campbell
BDM Match (79%)	John Thomson	Margaret Maud Campbell
	💍 1908/1694
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boiler-maker	Domestic
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	82 Leet Street, INVERCARGILL	Yay Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	6 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. Geo. Lindsay, Kelvin Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	08/1752
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Lindsay

26 March 1908

Gordon Frederick Sandriett
Alice May Rodgers

Gordon Frederick Scandrett
Alice May Rodgers
💍 1908/1703

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

23
26

Spey Street, INVERCARGILL
Liddel Street, INVERCARGILL

23 years
3 years

Residence of Mr. Benjamin Sandriett, Spey Street, INVERCARGILL

08/1737

26 March 1908

Ven. Archdeacon Stocker

No	52
Date of Notice	26 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Frederick Sandriett	Alice May Rodgers
BDM Match (96%)	Gordon Frederick Scandrett	Alice May Rodgers
	💍 1908/1703
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Spey Street, INVERCARGILL	Liddel Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	23 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Benjamin Sandriett, Spey Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	08/1737
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon Stocker

26 March 1908

James Gibbs Laws
Agnes Jessie Laws

James Gibbs
Agnes Jessie Laws
💍 1908/1681

Bachelor
Widow

Sawmill-hand
Domestic

24
48

Grasmere, INVERCARGILL
Grasmere, INVERCARGILL

6 months
15 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

08/1731

26 March 1908

Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

No	53
Date of Notice	26 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gibbs Laws	Agnes Jessie Laws
BDM Match (84%)	James Gibbs	Agnes Jessie Laws
	💍 1908/1681
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Sawmill-hand	Domestic
Age	24	48
Dwelling Place	Grasmere, INVERCARGILL	Grasmere, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	6 months	15 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL
Folio	08/1731
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

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).