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 024

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1908 Registrar William Winsbury White

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

335

29 October 1908

Charles Clarendon Roberts
Eva Ethel Wright

Charles Clarendon Roberts
Eva Ethel Wright
💍 1908/2754

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

29
34

Winslow
Winslow

16 years
18 years

Church of England Windermere

08/7495

29 October 1908

Rev. E. Blakiston

No	335
Date of Notice	29 October 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Clarendon Roberts	Eva Ethel Wright
	💍 1908/2754
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	29	34
Dwelling Place	Winslow	Winslow
Length of Residence	16 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Windermere
Folio	08/7495
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 October 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Blakiston

336

31 October 1908

Charles Pritchard
Josephine Margorie McGinn

William Charles Pritchard
Josephine Margorie McGinn
💍 1908/2747

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

32
24

Trenorton
Ashburton

32 years
24 years

St. Stephen's Church of England Ashburton

08/7489

31 October 1908

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	336
Date of Notice	31 October 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Pritchard	Josephine Margorie McGinn
BDM Match (84%)	William Charles Pritchard	Josephine Margorie McGinn
	💍 1908/2747
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Trenorton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	32 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephen's Church of England Ashburton
Folio	08/7489
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

337

3 November 1908

George Meddins
Eleanor Mary Allanson

George Meddins
Eleanor Mary Allanson
💍 1908/2749

Widower
Spinster

Ironmonger
Clerk

60
39

Ashburton
Ashburton

59 years
5 years

St. Stephen's Church of England Ashburton

08/7490

3 November 1908

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	337
Date of Notice	3 November 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Meddins	Eleanor Mary Allanson
	💍 1908/2749
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger	Clerk
Age	60	39
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	59 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephen's Church of England Ashburton
Folio	08/7490
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

338

6 November 1908

James Robbins
Emma Amelia Millar

James Robbins
Emma Amelia Millar
💍 1908/2753

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic duties

40
35

Windermere
Windermere

6 weeks
14 days

St. John's Church of England Windermere

08/7484

6 November 1908

Rev. B. Hope

No	338
Date of Notice	6 November 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Robbins	Emma Amelia Millar
	💍 1908/2753
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	40	35
Dwelling Place	Windermere	Windermere
Length of Residence	6 weeks	14 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Church of England Windermere
Folio	08/7484
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Hope

339

7 November 1908

Samuel Joseph Beaven
Lily Fifield

Samuel Joseph Beaven
Lily Fifield
💍 1908/2786

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic duties

22
19

Ashburton
Westerfield

15 months
14 years

At the dwelling of Tabez Ellen Fifield, Westerfield

08/7504

Mary Jane Fifield, Mother of minor

7 November 1908

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	339
Date of Notice	7 November 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Joseph Beaven	Lily Fifield
	💍 1908/2786
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Westerfield
Length of Residence	15 months	14 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of Tabez Ellen Fifield, Westerfield
Folio	08/7504
Consent	Mary Jane Fifield, Mother of minor
Date of Certificate	7 November 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

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).