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 574

District of INVERCARGILL Quarter ending 31 March 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

24 February 1908

Percy Edwin Flegg
Lucy Julid von Yunzelmann

Percy Edwin Flagg
Lucy Julia Von Sungelmann
💍 1908/3881

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman
Domestic

34
35

Esk Street, INVERCARGILL
Leet Street, INVERCARGILL

4 days
7 years

Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, INVERCARGILL

08/1748

24 February 1908

Rev. Geo. Lindsay

No	30
Date of Notice	24 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Edwin Flegg	Lucy Julid von Yunzelmann
BDM Match (89%)	Percy Edwin Flagg	Lucy Julia Von Sungelmann
	💍 1908/3881
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman	Domestic
Age	34	35
Dwelling Place	Esk Street, INVERCARGILL	Leet Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	4 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	08/1748
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Lindsay

26 February 1908

Robert Turner
Maude Marion Hogg

Robert Turner
Maude Marion Ogg
💍 1908/1670

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

54
43

Esk Street, INVERCARGILL
Esk Street, INVERCARGILL

8 days
8 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

08/1727

26 February 1908

Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

No	31
Date of Notice	26 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Turner	Maude Marion Hogg
BDM Match (94%)	Robert Turner	Maude Marion Ogg
	💍 1908/1670
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	54	43
Dwelling Place	Esk Street, INVERCARGILL	Esk Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	8 days	8 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL
Folio	08/1727
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

28 February 1908

Thomas Kett
Honora Leaven

Thomas Kett
Honora Leavan
💍 1908/5535

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel-keeper
Domestic

50
31

East Road, INVERCARGILL
East Road, INVERCARGILL

3 months
1 month

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, INVERCARGILL

08/4073

28 February 1908

Rev. J. O'Malley

No	32
Date of Notice	28 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Kett	Honora Leaven
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas Kett	Honora Leavan
	💍 1908/5535
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel-keeper	Domestic
Age	50	31
Dwelling Place	East Road, INVERCARGILL	East Road, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 months	1 month
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	08/4073
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Malley

29 February 1908

James Thomson
Elizabeth Ann Richards

James Thomson
Elizabeth Ann Richards
💍 1908/1690

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

27
31

Tweed Street, INVERCARGILL
Jed Street, INVERCARGILL

3 days
3 years

Residence of Richard Richard, Jed Street, INVERCARGILL

08/1749

29 February 1908

Rev. Geo. Lindsay

No	33
Date of Notice	29 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Thomson	Elizabeth Ann Richards
	💍 1908/1690
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	27	31
Dwelling Place	Tweed Street, INVERCARGILL	Jed Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Richard Richard, Jed Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	08/1749
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Lindsay

29 February 1908

John Thomas Blight
Mary Ann Dooley

John Thomas Blight
Mary Ann Dooley
💍 1908/5536

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

26
20

Kapuka, INVERCARGILL
Kapuka, INVERCARGILL

2 months
20 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, INVERCARGILL

08/4074

Patrick Dooley, father

29 February 1908

Rev. J. O'Malley

No	34
Date of Notice	29 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Blight	Mary Ann Dooley
	💍 1908/5536
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Kapuka, INVERCARGILL	Kapuka, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	2 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	08/4074
Consent	Patrick Dooley, father
Date of Certificate	29 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Malley

2 March 1908

John Thompson Wilson
Hilda Osborne

John Thompson Wilson
Hilda Osborne
💍 1908/1671

Bachelor
Spinster

Soap and Candle-maker
Domestic

26
21

Gala Street, INVERCARGILL
North Road, INVERCARGILL

3 months
4 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

08/1728

2 March 1908

Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

No	35
Date of Notice	2 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thompson Wilson	Hilda Osborne
	💍 1908/1671
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soap and Candle-maker	Domestic
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Gala Street, INVERCARGILL	North Road, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL
Folio	08/1728
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).