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 757

District of PORT CHALMERS Quarter ending 31 March 1908 Registrar George Galloway Chisholm

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

3 January 1908

Donald McInnes
Charlotte Johnson

Donald McInnes
Charlotte Johnson
💍 1908/1748

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailor
Domestic duties

33
26

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

9 months
26 years

Registrar's Office

08/1807

3 January 1908

George R. Baudines, Deputy Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald McInnes	Charlotte Johnson
	💍 1908/1748
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailor	Domestic duties
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	9 months	26 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	08/1807
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1908
Officiating Minister	George R. Baudines, Deputy Registrar

30 January 1908

Morgan James Cottle
Sarah Pratley

Morgan James Cottle
Sarah Pratley
💍 1908/1749

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Fruiterer

38
38

Port Chalmers
Sawyers Bay

about 5 years
over 20 years

Residence of the bride's father, Sawyers Bay

08/1808

30 January 1908

Rev. Josiah Ward, Wesleyan Minister

No	2
Date of Notice	30 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Morgan James Cottle	Sarah Pratley
	💍 1908/1749
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Fruiterer
Age	38	38
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Sawyers Bay
Length of Residence	about 5 years	over 20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of the bride's father, Sawyers Bay
Folio	08/1808
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Josiah Ward, Wesleyan Minister

31 January 1908

Philip Lightbourne
Euphemia Gordon

Philip Lightbourne
Euphemia Gordon
💍 1908/1750

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic duties

28
24

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

20 years
about 12 years

The residence of William Sutton, Magnetic St., Port Chalmers

08/1809

31 January 1908

Rev. E. C. Tennent, Presbyterian Minister

No	3
Date of Notice	31 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Lightbourne	Euphemia Gordon
	💍 1908/1750
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	20 years	about 12 years
Marriage Place	The residence of William Sutton, Magnetic St., Port Chalmers
Folio	08/1809
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. C. Tennent, Presbyterian Minister

1 February 1908

William Dober Sutherland
Mabel Ellen Foord

William Sutherland
Mabel Ellen Foord
💍 1908/3957

Bachelor
Spinster

Light-Keeper
Domestic duties

26
20

North Taiaroa Heads
Heywards Point

16 years
20 years

Residence of the Bride's Parents, Heywards Point

08/1810

Arthur Foord, Father of Bride

1 February 1908

Rev. E. C. Tennent, Presbyterian Minister

No	4
Date of Notice	1 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Dober Sutherland	Mabel Ellen Foord
BDM Match (88%)	William Sutherland	Mabel Ellen Foord
	💍 1908/3957
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Light-Keeper	Domestic duties
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	North Taiaroa Heads	Heywards Point
Length of Residence	16 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of the Bride's Parents, Heywards Point
Folio	08/1810
Consent	Arthur Foord, Father of Bride
Date of Certificate	1 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. C. Tennent, Presbyterian Minister

24 March 1908

Thomas Wright Bray
Ada Jane Harland

Thomas Wright Bray
Ada Jane Harland
💍 1908/3968

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

29
23

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

15 months
about 20 years

Residence of Mrs. Elizabeth Harland, Mother of Bride, Wickliffe Terrace, Port Chalmers

08/1811

24 March 1908

Rev. Wm. Grant, Congregational Minister

No	5
Date of Notice	24 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Wright Bray	Ada Jane Harland
	💍 1908/3968
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	15 months	about 20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Elizabeth Harland, Mother of Bride, Wickliffe Terrace, Port Chalmers
Folio	08/1811
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Grant, Congregational Minister

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).