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 581

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

15 April 1908

Victor Shore
Elvie Panton

Victor Shore
Elvie Panton
💍 1908/5549

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

25
21

Gisbury, INVERCARGILL
Tay Street, INVERCARGILL

9 months
3 days

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

08/4063

15 April 1908

Rev. G. Lindsay

No	68
Date of Notice	15 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Shore	Elvie Panton
	💍 1908/5549
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Gisbury, INVERCARGILL	Tay Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	9 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. G. Lindsay, Kelvin Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	08/4063
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Lindsay

15 April 1908

Charles Alfred Collett
Marianne Louisa Knipe

Charles Alfred Collett
Marianna Louisa Knipe
💍 1908/5554

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine-driver
Domestic

22
29

Tweed Street, INVERCARGILL
Clifton, INVERCARGILL

3 days
29 years

Salvation Army Barracks, Tay Street, INVERCARGILL

08/4068

15 April 1908

Staff Captain E. Dixon

No	69
Date of Notice	15 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Alfred Collett	Marianne Louisa Knipe
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Alfred Collett	Marianna Louisa Knipe
	💍 1908/5554
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine-driver	Domestic
Age	22	29
Dwelling Place	Tweed Street, INVERCARGILL	Clifton, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 days	29 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Barracks, Tay Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	08/4068
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Staff Captain E. Dixon

15 April 1908

Samuel Wilson
Louie Chambers

Samuel Wilson
Louie Chambers
💍 1908/5484

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Housekeeper

39
35

Gladstone, INVERCARGILL
Gladstone, INVERCARGILL

5 days
1 month

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

08/4020

15 April 1908

Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

No	70
Date of Notice	15 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Wilson	Louie Chambers
	💍 1908/5484
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Housekeeper
Age	39	35
Dwelling Place	Gladstone, INVERCARGILL	Gladstone, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	5 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL
Folio	08/4020
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

15 April 1908

Patrick Cavanagh
Margaret Murphy

Patrick Cavanagh
Margaret Murphy
💍 1908/5768

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

29
35

Leet Street, INVERCARGILL
Roslyn Bush, INVERCARGILL

3 days
35 years

Roman Catholic Church, Lyne Street, INVERCARGILL

08/4284

15 April 1908

Very Rev. Dean Burke

No	71
Date of Notice	15 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Cavanagh	Margaret Murphy
	💍 1908/5768
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	29	35
Dwelling Place	Leet Street, INVERCARGILL	Roslyn Bush, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 days	35 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Lyne Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	08/4284
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Burke

16 April 1908

Arthur Edward Unkles
Ellen Cleary

Arthur Edward Unkles
Ellen Marr Timpany
💍 1908/5510

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailor
Clerk

25
23

Dee Street, INVERCARGILL
Dee Street, INVERCARGILL

4 years
23 years

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

08/4048

16 April 1908

Rev. G. Lindsay

No	72
Date of Notice	16 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edward Unkles	Ellen Cleary
BDM Match (72%)	Arthur Edward Unkles	Ellen Marr Timpany
	💍 1908/5510
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailor	Clerk
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Dee Street, INVERCARGILL	Dee Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	4 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. G. Lindsay, Kelvin Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	08/4048
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Lindsay

21 April 1908

Emil Theodor Lienert
Margaret Rollins

Emil Theodor Lienert
Margaret Rollins
💍 1908/5485

Widower
Spinster

Coach-builder
Housekeeper

30
31

Kelvin Street, INVERCARGILL
Kelvin Street, INVERCARGILL

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

08/4021

21 April 1908

Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

No	73
Date of Notice	21 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Emil Theodor Lienert	Margaret Rollins
	💍 1908/5485
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Coach-builder	Housekeeper
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Kelvin Street, INVERCARGILL	Kelvin Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL
Folio	08/4021
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 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).