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 773

District of Riverton Quarter ending 30 September 1908 Registrar Daniel Paul Phillips

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

771

2 July 1908

Frederick Allan Parry
Fanny Cruickshanks

Frederick Allan Parry
Fanny Cruickshanks
💍 1908/7454

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Domestic Duties

23
17

Riverton
Riverton

23 years
5 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Riverton

08/6069

Ellen Smith, Mother

2 July 1908

D. P. Phillips, Registrar

No	771
Date of Notice	2 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Allan Parry	Fanny Cruickshanks
	💍 1908/7454
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Domestic Duties
Age	23	17
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	23 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Riverton
Folio	08/6069
Consent	Ellen Smith, Mother
Date of Certificate	2 July 1908
Officiating Minister	D. P. Phillips, Registrar

772

6 July 1908

John Albert Livery
Elizabeth Milgate

John Albert Livesey
Elizabeth Milgate
💍 1908/3414

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

35
36

Riverton
Riverton

35 years
2 years

Residence of John Albert Livery, Riverton

08/8217

6 July 1908

Rev. G. A. Josson

No	772
Date of Notice	6 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Albert Livery	Elizabeth Milgate
BDM Match (95%)	John Albert Livesey	Elizabeth Milgate
	💍 1908/3414
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	35	36
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	35 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Albert Livery, Riverton
Folio	08/8217
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. A. Josson

773

27 July 1908

William Henry Humphneys
Hilda Elizabeth Harley

William Henry Humphreys
Hilda Elizabeth Harley
💍 1908/7456

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

28
22

Waimatuku
Waimatuku

6 years
3 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Riverton

08/6071

27 July 1908

D. P. Phillips, Registrar

No	773
Date of Notice	27 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Humphneys	Hilda Elizabeth Harley
BDM Match (98%)	William Henry Humphreys	Hilda Elizabeth Harley
	💍 1908/7456
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Waimatuku	Waimatuku
Length of Residence	6 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Riverton
Folio	08/6071
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1908
Officiating Minister	D. P. Phillips, Registrar

774

3 August 1908

Alexander Donald M'Door
Alice May Robinson

Alexander Donald McIvor
Alice May Robinson
💍 1908/7458

Bachelor
Spinster

Horse Trainer
Domestic Duties

32
32

Riverton
Riverton

3 years
37 years

Church of England

08/6073

3 August 1908

Rev. J. Morland

No	774
Date of Notice	3 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Donald M'Door	Alice May Robinson
BDM Match (94%)	Alexander Donald McIvor	Alice May Robinson
	💍 1908/7458
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Horse Trainer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	3 years	37 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	08/6073
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Morland

775

4 August 1908

John Brazier
Rosie Teresa Prendeville

John Brazier
Rosie Teresa Prendeville
💍 1908/7455

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Duties

24
22

Nightcaps
Orepuki

14 years
22 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Riverton

08/6070

4 August 1908

D. P. Phillips, Registrar

No	775
Date of Notice	4 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Brazier	Rosie Teresa Prendeville
	💍 1908/7455
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Nightcaps	Orepuki
Length of Residence	14 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Riverton
Folio	08/6070
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1908
Officiating Minister	D. P. Phillips, Registrar

776

7 August 1908

Walter Southern
Maggie Brown

Walter Southern
Maggie Brown
💍 1908/7627

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
27

Waimatuku
Waimatuku

24 years
16 years

Residence of John Steel Brown, Waimatuku

08/6246

7 August 1908

Rev. A. D. Kirkland

No	776
Date of Notice	7 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Southern	Maggie Brown
	💍 1908/7627
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Waimatuku	Waimatuku
Length of Residence	24 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Steel Brown, Waimatuku
Folio	08/6246
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. D. Kirkland

777

15 August 1908

Ernest Edward Gray
Olive Joy Reid

Ernest Edward Gray
Olive Joy Reid
💍 1908/7459

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Domestic Duties

21
23

Riverton
Orepuki

21 years
3 days

Roman Catholic Church, Riverton

08/6074

15 August 1908

Rev. P. Murphy

No	777
Date of Notice	15 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Edward Gray	Olive Joy Reid
	💍 1908/7459
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Domestic Duties
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Orepuki
Length of Residence	21 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Riverton
Folio	08/6074
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Murphy

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).