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 570

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

11 January 1908

Alfred Archibald Moir
Ada Jane Patterson

Alfred Archibald Moir
Ada Jane Patterson
💍 1908/1668

Bachelor
Spinster

Packer, Cordial Factory
Domestic

21
18

Spey Street, INVERCARGILL
Yarrow Street, INVERCARGILL

2 years
1 year

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

08/1725

William Patterson, father

11 January 1908

Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

No	6
Date of Notice	11 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Archibald Moir	Ada Jane Patterson
	💍 1908/1668
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Packer, Cordial Factory	Domestic
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Spey Street, INVERCARGILL	Yarrow Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL
Folio	08/1725
Consent	William Patterson, father
Date of Certificate	11 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

14 January 1908

Edward Stephen King
Betsy Ann Rey

Edward Stephen King
Betsy Ann Key Skipworth
💍 1908/1682

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

24
28

Waianawa, INVERCARGILL
Waianawa, INVERCARGILL

2 years
2 years

Residence of Frederick Skipworth, INVERCARGILL

08/1740

14 January 1908

Rev. H. H. Barton

No	7
Date of Notice	14 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Stephen King	Betsy Ann Rey
BDM Match (76%)	Edward Stephen King	Betsy Ann Key Skipworth
	💍 1908/1682
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Waianawa, INVERCARGILL	Waianawa, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Frederick Skipworth, INVERCARGILL
Folio	08/1740
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. H. Barton

18 January 1908

Peter John Morrissey
Susan Halliburton

Peter John Morrissey
Susan Halliburton
💍 1908/1669

Widower
Spinster

Bookmaker
Domestic Duties

36
21

INVERCARGILL
INVERCARGILL

1 year
4 days

Office of the Deputy Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

08/1726

18 January 1908

Deputy Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

No	8
Date of Notice	18 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter John Morrissey	Susan Halliburton
	💍 1908/1669
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Bookmaker	Domestic Duties
Age	36	21
Dwelling Place	INVERCARGILL	INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	1 year	4 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Deputy Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL
Folio	08/1726
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

20 January 1908

Edward Bevan Jones
Jane Davies

Edward Bevan Jones
Jane Davies
💍 1908/1706

Widower
Spinster

Chemist
Hospital Nurse

56
45

INVERCARGILL
INVERCARGILL

32 years
3 months

Residence of A. Burton, Mary Street East, INVERCARGILL

08/1758

20 January 1908

Rev. R. Raine

No	9
Date of Notice	20 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Bevan Jones	Jane Davies
	💍 1908/1706
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Chemist	Hospital Nurse
Age	56	45
Dwelling Place	INVERCARGILL	INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	32 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of A. Burton, Mary Street East, INVERCARGILL
Folio	08/1758
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Raine

22 January 1908

Patrick James Darcy
Clara Barbara Regesky

Patrick James Darcy
Clara Barbara Regesky
💍 1908/5533

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic Duties

25
22

Brinan Street, INVERCARGILL
Waikivi, INVERCARGILL

2 years
4 years

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Lyne Street, INVERCARGILL

08/4071

22 January 1908

Rev. Father Buckley

No	10
Date of Notice	22 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick James Darcy	Clara Barbara Regesky
	💍 1908/5533
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic Duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Brinan Street, INVERCARGILL	Waikivi, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Lyne Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	08/4071
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Buckley

23 January 1908

Oliver Matthews Anderson
Martha McCracken Anderson

Oliver Matthews
Martha McCracken Anderson
💍 1908/1728

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic Duties

33
29

Elles Road, INVERCARGILL
Chelmsford Street North, INVERCARGILL

24 years
29 years

Residence of William Anderson, Chelmsford Street North, INVERCARGILL

08/1765

23 January 1908

Rev. F. Hales

No	11
Date of Notice	23 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oliver Matthews Anderson	Martha McCracken Anderson
BDM Match (81%)	Oliver Matthews	Martha McCracken Anderson
	💍 1908/1728
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic Duties
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Elles Road, INVERCARGILL	Chelmsford Street North, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	24 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Anderson, Chelmsford Street North, INVERCARGILL
Folio	08/1765
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Hales

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).