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 020

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 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

316

31 July 1908

John Richard Mackinson
Mary Ann Gleidining

John Richard Mackinson
Mary Ann Glendinning
💍 1908/6992

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
domestic duties

54
19

Ashburton
Ashburton

4 years
2 years

at the Office of the Registrar Ashburton

08/5567

Helen Lindsay, mother of minor

31 July 1908

W. W. White, Registrar

No	316
Date of Notice	31 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Richard Mackinson	Mary Ann Gleidining
BDM Match (95%)	John Richard Mackinson	Mary Ann Glendinning
	💍 1908/6992
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	domestic duties
Age	54	19
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	at the Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	08/5567
Consent	Helen Lindsay, mother of minor
Date of Certificate	31 July 1908
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

317

3 August 1908

Thomas Fleming Bradford
Annie Jamieson

Thomas Fleming Bradford
Annie Jamieson
💍 1908/6977

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
domestic duties

31
25

Hampstead
Trevorton

30 years
25 years

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

08/5375

3 August 1908

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	317
Date of Notice	3 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Fleming Bradford	Annie Jamieson
	💍 1908/6977
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	domestic duties
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Hampstead	Trevorton
Length of Residence	30 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	08/5375
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

318

5 August 1908

Charles Herbert Cresswell
Gertrude Laura Morgan

Charles Herbert Cresswell
Gertrude Laura Morgan
💍 1908/7551

Bachelor
Widow

Butcher
domestic duties

24
25

Christchurch
Ashburton

3 days
3 months

St. Stephens Church of England Ashburton

08/6169

5 August 1908

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	318
Date of Notice	5 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Herbert Cresswell	Gertrude Laura Morgan
	💍 1908/7551
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Butcher	domestic duties
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	08/6169
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

319

7 August 1908

James Roy Jackson
Elizabeth Whennan

James Roy Jackson
Elizabeth McLennan
💍 1908/6979

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
domestic duties

29
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

5½ years
1½ years

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

08/5577

7 August 1908

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	319
Date of Notice	7 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Roy Jackson	Elizabeth Whennan
BDM Match (92%)	James Roy Jackson	Elizabeth McLennan
	💍 1908/6979
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	domestic duties
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	5½ years	1½ years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	08/5577
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

320

11 August 1908

John Allan Walker
Susanna Knopp

John Allan Walker
Susanna Knox
💍 1908/6978

Bachelor
Spinster

Woolcarder
domestic duties

28
26

Allenton
Allenton

6 years
16 years

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

08/5576

11 August 1908

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	320
Date of Notice	11 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Allan Walker	Susanna Knopp
BDM Match (92%)	John Allan Walker	Susanna Knox
	💍 1908/6978
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woolcarder	domestic duties
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Allenton
Length of Residence	6 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	08/5576
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 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).