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 775

District of Riverton Quarter ending 31 December 1908 Registrar D. P. 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

780

20 October 1908

John Roderick M. Ivor
Jane Adams Ferrier

John Roderick McIvor
Jane Adams Ferrier
💍 1908/3369

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

37
24

Otautau
Riverton

27 years
4 months

Presbyterian Church, Riverton

08/8170

20 October 1908

Rev. C. A. Gray

No	780
Date of Notice	20 October 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Roderick M. Ivor	Jane Adams Ferrier
BDM Match (95%)	John Roderick McIvor	Jane Adams Ferrier
	💍 1908/3369
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	37	24
Dwelling Place	Otautau	Riverton
Length of Residence	27 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Riverton
Folio	08/8170
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Gray

781

20 October 1908

Malcolm Gray
Mary Southern

Malcolm Gray
Mary Southern
💍 1908/3368

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

21
21

Waimatuku
Waimatuku

2 years
20 years

Residence of Walter Southern, Waimatuku

08/8169

20 October 1908

Rev. A. Kirkland

No	781
Date of Notice	20 October 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malcolm Gray	Mary Southern
	💍 1908/3368
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Waimatuku	Waimatuku
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Walter Southern, Waimatuku
Folio	08/8169
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Kirkland

782

31 October 1908

Frank Herbert Hinsley
Louisa Lussn

Frank Herbert Hinsley
Louisa Cusser
💍 1908/3526

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Domestic Duties

28
24

Longwood
Longwood

3 months
10 weeks

Roman Catholic Church, Riverton

08/8354

31 October 1908

Rev. P. Murphy

No	782
Date of Notice	31 October 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Herbert Hinsley	Louisa Lussn
BDM Match (88%)	Frank Herbert Hinsley	Louisa Cusser
	💍 1908/3526
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Domestic Duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Longwood	Longwood
Length of Residence	3 months	10 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Riverton
Folio	08/8354
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Murphy

783

11 November 1908

Albert Richmond Simpson
Martha Sophia Webb

Albert Richmond Simpson
Martha Sophia Webb
💍 1908/3347

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist
Domestic Duties

26
25

Hastings
Thornbury

2 weeks
25 years

Church of England, Riverton District

08/8172

11 November 1908

Rev. J. Morland

No	783
Date of Notice	11 November 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Richmond Simpson	Martha Sophia Webb
	💍 1908/3347
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Domestic Duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Thornbury
Length of Residence	2 weeks	25 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Riverton District
Folio	08/8172
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 November 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Morland

784

10 December 1908

Robert Ormond Gardner
Edith Sutton

Robert Ormond Gardner
Edith Sutton
💍 1908/3348

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
25

Lillburn, Clifden
Thornbury

3 days
22 years

Church of England, Riverton District

08/8173

10 December 1908

Rev. J. Morland

No	784
Date of Notice	10 December 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Ormond Gardner	Edith Sutton
	💍 1908/3348
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Lillburn, Clifden	Thornbury
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Riverton District
Folio	08/8173
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Morland

785

15 December 1908

Frank Belsham
Harriett Ratimira Te An

Frank Belsham
Harriet Ratimira Te Au
💍 1908/3396

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Duties

33
19

Invercargill
Colac Bay

4 days
19 years

Presbyterian Church, Riverton District

08/8223

15 December 1908

Rev. C. A. Gray

No	785
Date of Notice	15 December 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Belsham	Harriett Ratimira Te An
BDM Match (96%)	Frank Belsham	Harriet Ratimira Te Au
	💍 1908/3396
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Duties
Age	33	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Colac Bay
Length of Residence	4 days	19 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Riverton District
Folio	08/8223
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Gray

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).