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 798

District of Tokomairiro Quarter ending 30 September 1908

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

13 July 1908

James Watt Dunbar
Margaret Forsyth Stevenson

James Watt Dunbar
Margaret Forsyth Stevenson
💍 1908/7464

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

40
29

Milton
Milton

10 years
20 years

House of Mr. Robert Stevenson North Branch

08/6078

13 July 1908

Rev G Miller

No	85
Date of Notice	13 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Watt Dunbar	Margaret Forsyth Stevenson
	💍 1908/7464
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	40	29
Dwelling Place	Milton	Milton
Length of Residence	10 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Robert Stevenson North Branch
Folio	08/6078
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev G Miller

20 August 1908

Richard Craigie
Catherine Knarston

William Harrison Craigie
Catherine Knarston
💍 1908/7487

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

31
28

Taieri Mouth
Taieri Mouth

20 years
20 years

House of Mr Kmarston Taieri Mouth

08/6084

20 August 1908

Rev W Howes

No	86
Date of Notice	20 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Craigie	Catherine Knarston
BDM Match (73%)	William Harrison Craigie	Catherine Knarston
	💍 1908/7487
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Taieri Mouth	Taieri Mouth
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr Kmarston Taieri Mouth
Folio	08/6084
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev W Howes

22 August 1908

Peter Williamson
Margaret Raitt Strain

Peter Williamson
Margaret Raitt Strain
💍 1908/7465

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

37
33

Milburn
Milburn

15 years
16 years

Presbyterian Manse Milton

08/6079

22 August 1908

Rev G Miller

No	87
Date of Notice	22 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Williamson	Margaret Raitt Strain
	💍 1908/7465
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	37	33
Dwelling Place	Milburn	Milburn
Length of Residence	15 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Milton
Folio	08/6079
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 August 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev G Miller

7 September 1908

Richard Taylor
Ada Lillian Finch

Richard Taylor
Ada Lillian Finch
💍 1908/7476

Bachelor
Spinster

Platelayer
Domestic Duties

30
29

Milburn
Milburn

20 years
29 years

House of Mr John Finch Milburn N Z

08/6083

7 September 1908

Rev W H Howes

No	88
Date of Notice	7 September 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Taylor	Ada Lillian Finch
	💍 1908/7476
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Platelayer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Milburn	Milburn
Length of Residence	20 years	29 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr John Finch Milburn N Z
Folio	08/6083
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 September 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev W H Howes

21 September 1908

Hugh Wilson
Catherine Jane Lowry

Hugh Wilson
Catherine Jane Lowery
💍 1908/7466

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

27
19

Milton
Crichton Tokomairiro

4 years
19 years

House of Mr Thos Lowry Crichton Tokomairiro

08/6080

Thomas Lowry, father of bride

22 September 1908

Rev G Miller

No	89
Date of Notice	21 September 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Wilson	Catherine Jane Lowry
BDM Match (98%)	Hugh Wilson	Catherine Jane Lowery
	💍 1908/7466
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Milton	Crichton Tokomairiro
Length of Residence	4 years	19 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr Thos Lowry Crichton Tokomairiro
Folio	08/6080
Consent	Thomas Lowry, father of bride
Date of Certificate	22 September 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev G Miller

28 September 1908

John Howie
Margaret Manners Finlayson

John Howie
Margaret Manners Fuilayson
💍 1908/7467

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
28

Moneymore
Moneymore

27 years
13 years

Presbyterian Church Milton

08/6081

28 September 1908

Rev G Miller

No	90
Date of Notice	28 September 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Howie	Margaret Manners Finlayson
BDM Match (96%)	John Howie	Margaret Manners Fuilayson
	💍 1908/7467
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Moneymore	Moneymore
Length of Residence	27 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Milton
Folio	08/6081
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 September 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev G Miller

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).