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 593

District of Invercargill 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

123

18 July 1908

Alexander Hughes
Ada Ann Tuffery

Alexander Hughes
Ada Ann Tuffrey
💍 1908/7425

Batchelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dress-maker

24
19

Dee Street, Invercargill
Leet Street, Invercargill

18 months
19 years

Residence of the Rev. R. Raine, Spey Street, Invercargill

08/6015

Sarah Gregory, mother

18 July 1908

Rev. R. Raine

No	123
Date of Notice	18 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Hughes	Ada Ann Tuffery
BDM Match (93%)	Alexander Hughes	Ada Ann Tuffrey
	💍 1908/7425
Condition	Batchelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dress-maker
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Dee Street, Invercargill	Leet Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	18 months	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of the Rev. R. Raine, Spey Street, Invercargill
Folio	08/6015
Consent	Sarah Gregory, mother
Date of Certificate	18 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Raine

124

20 July 1908

Malcolm McDonald
Charlotte Runson

Malcolm McDonald
Charlotte Eunson
💍 1908/7403

Batchelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dress-maker

25
19

Awarua Plains, Invercargill
Woodend, Invercargill

18 months
19 years

Residence of John Runson, Woodend, Invercargill

08/6008

John Runson, father

20 July 1908

Rev. R. Ferguson

No	124
Date of Notice	20 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malcolm McDonald	Charlotte Runson
BDM Match (97%)	Malcolm McDonald	Charlotte Eunson
	💍 1908/7403
Condition	Batchelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dress-maker
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Awarua Plains, Invercargill	Woodend, Invercargill
Length of Residence	18 months	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Runson, Woodend, Invercargill
Folio	08/6008
Consent	John Runson, father
Date of Certificate	20 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Ferguson

125

28 July 1908

Gwipnne Hales
Sarah Cunningham

Gwynne Yates
Sarah Cunningham
💍 1908/7426

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

29
22

Grasmere, Invercargill
Grasmere, Invercargill

4 months
1 year

Residence of John Cunningham, Grasmere, Invercargill

08/6016

28 July 1908

Mr. S. Little

No	125
Date of Notice	28 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gwipnne Hales	Sarah Cunningham
BDM Match (85%)	Gwynne Yates	Sarah Cunningham
	💍 1908/7426
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Grasmere, Invercargill	Grasmere, Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 months	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of John Cunningham, Grasmere, Invercargill
Folio	08/6016
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Mr. S. Little

126

29 July 1908

George Arthur Sherwin
Ellen Letitia Sproull

George Arthur Sherwin
Ellen Letitia Sproull
💍 1908/7397

Widower
Spinster

Engineer
Nurse

32
33

Esk Street, Invercargill
Forth Street, Invercargill

3 days
3 years

English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

08/5985

29 July 1908

Rev. William Swinburn

No	126
Date of Notice	29 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Arthur Sherwin	Ellen Letitia Sproull
	💍 1908/7397
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Nurse
Age	32	33
Dwelling Place	Esk Street, Invercargill	Forth Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	08/5985
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Swinburn

127

31 July 1908

Arthur Anderson
Ellen Stinton

Arthur Anderson
Ellen Hinton
💍 1908/7398

Gidson Anderson
Ellen Hodson
💍 1908/1536

Batchelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

23
24

North Invercargill
Spey Street, Invercargill

23 years
24 years

English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

08/5986

31 July 1908

Archdeacon Stocker

No	127
Date of Notice	31 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Anderson	Ellen Stinton
BDM Match (92%)	Arthur Anderson	Ellen Hinton
	💍 1908/7398
BDM Match (61%)	Gidson Anderson	Ellen Hodson
	💍 1908/1536
Condition	Batchelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	North Invercargill	Spey Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	23 years	24 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	08/5986
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon Stocker

128

3 August 1908

David Clark
Margaret Blakie

David Clark
Margaret Blakie
💍 1908/7381

Batchelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

34
22

Ryal Bush, Invercargill
Ryal Bush, Southland

30 years
22 years

Residence of William Blakee, Ryal Bush, Southland

08/5994

3 August 1908

Rev. James T. Burrows

No	128
Date of Notice	3 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Clark	Margaret Blakie
	💍 1908/7381
Condition	Batchelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Ryal Bush, Invercargill	Ryal Bush, Southland
Length of Residence	30 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Blakee, Ryal Bush, Southland
Folio	08/5994
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. James T. Burrows

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).