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 579

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 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

1 April 1908

William James McBagne
Emma Rowe

William James Mayne
Emma Rowe
💍 1908/5553

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Housekeeper

33
30

Princes Street, South Invercargill
Spey Street, Invercargill

1 year
4 months

Residence of Rev. R. Raine

08/4069

1 April 1908

Rev. R. Raine

No	56
Date of Notice	1 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James McBagne	Emma Rowe
BDM Match (93%)	William James Mayne	Emma Rowe
	💍 1908/5553
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Housekeeper
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Princes Street, South Invercargill	Spey Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 year	4 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. R. Raine
Folio	08/4069
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Raine

2 April 1908

Henry James Baillie
Ruby Muriel Goodsir

Henry James Baillie
Ruby Muriel Goodsir
💍 1908/5530

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

24
21

Yarrow Street, Invercargill
Clyde Street, Invercargill

2 years
3 years

Residence of Mr. J. H. Middleton, Clyde Street, Invercargill

08/4044

2 April 1908

Rev. G. Lindsay

No	57
Date of Notice	2 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Baillie	Ruby Muriel Goodsir
	💍 1908/5530
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Yarrow Street, Invercargill	Clyde Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. H. Middleton, Clyde Street, Invercargill
Folio	08/4044
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Lindsay

2 April 1908

Joseph Baldwin Fairbairn
Charlotte Ann Fairbairn

Joseph Baldwin
Charlotte Ann Fairbairn
💍 1908/5542

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

34
21

North Invercargill
North Invercargill

2 weeks
21 years

Residence of Mrs. Elizabeth Fairbairn, Melbourne Street, North Invercargill

08/4062

4 April 1908

Rev. R. Ferguson

No	58
Date of Notice	2 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Baldwin Fairbairn	Charlotte Ann Fairbairn
BDM Match (79%)	Joseph Baldwin	Charlotte Ann Fairbairn
	💍 1908/5542
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	North Invercargill	North Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 weeks	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Elizabeth Fairbairn, Melbourne Street, North Invercargill
Folio	08/4062
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Ferguson

2 April 1908

James Johnston McLeod
Miley Bannatyne Lumsden

James Johnston
Miley Bannatyne Nelson McLeod
💍 1908/5550

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Nurse

32
24

Leet Street, Invercargill
Caroline

32 years
3 months

Residence of Francis Howie, McLeod Lumsden, Caroline

08/4064

2 April 1908

Rev. John Davie

No	59
Date of Notice	2 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Johnston McLeod	Miley Bannatyne Lumsden
BDM Match (64%)	James Johnston	Miley Bannatyne Nelson McLeod
	💍 1908/5550
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Nurse
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Leet Street, Invercargill	Caroline
Length of Residence	32 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Francis Howie, McLeod Lumsden, Caroline
Folio	08/4064
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Davie

3 April 1908

Bernard Johnston Kempton
Rosetta O'Neill

Bernard Johnson Kempton
Rosetta O'Neill
💍 1908/5483

Divorced
Spinster

Engineer
Saleswoman

29
24

Dee Street, Invercargill
Spey Street, Invercargill

20 years
4 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

08/4019

4 April 1908

Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

No	60
Date of Notice	3 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard Johnston Kempton	Rosetta O'Neill
BDM Match (98%)	Bernard Johnson Kempton	Rosetta O'Neill
	💍 1908/5483
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Saleswoman
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Dee Street, Invercargill	Spey Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	20 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	08/4019
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

9 April 1908

Adam Keise Stalker
Margaret Jane Stalker

Adam Kerse
Margaret Jane Baikie Stalker
💍 1908/5688

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable
Domestic

26
24

Esk Street, Invercargill
Wyndham

8 years
2 years

Residence of Alexander Stalker, The Ridges, Wyndham

08/4203

9 April 1908

Rev. A. Sangster

No	61
Date of Notice	9 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adam Keise Stalker	Margaret Jane Stalker
BDM Match (63%)	Adam Kerse	Margaret Jane Baikie Stalker
	💍 1908/5688
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable	Domestic
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Esk Street, Invercargill	Wyndham
Length of Residence	8 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Alexander Stalker, The Ridges, Wyndham
Folio	08/4203
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Sangster

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).