Intentions to Marry, 1909 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840441, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1909 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1909a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1909b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1909c).

Page 015

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1909 Registrar W. W. 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

380

27 April 1909

Robert Montgomery
Maria Hockings

Robert Montgomery
Maria Hockings
💍 1909/2025

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
domestic duties

35
35

Mayfield
Mayfield

12 months
12 months

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

09/2997

27 April 1909

W. W. White, Registrar

No	380
Date of Notice	27 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Montgomery	Maria Hockings
	💍 1909/2025
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	35	35
Dwelling Place	Mayfield	Mayfield
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	09/2997
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1909
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

381

3 May 1909

George Shiellaw
Annie Mary Elizabeth Taylor

George Shierlaw
Annie Mary Elizabeth Taylor
💍 1909/2030

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

27
21

Hampstead
Hampstead

18 months
21 years

At the dwelling of Joseph Taylor, Eton Street, Hampstead

09/3010

3 May 1909

Rev. H. E. Bellhouse

No	381
Date of Notice	3 May 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Shiellaw	Annie Mary Elizabeth Taylor
BDM Match (97%)	George Shierlaw	Annie Mary Elizabeth Taylor
	💍 1909/2030
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Hampstead	Hampstead
Length of Residence	18 months	21 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of Joseph Taylor, Eton Street, Hampstead
Folio	09/3010
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Bellhouse

382

12 May 1909

David Henry Clifton
Catherine Constance Sinton

Davis Henry Clifton
Constance Sinton
💍 1909/2036

Bachelor
Spinster

Musterer
domestic duties

25
18

Alford Forest
Alford Forest

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

09/2998

Catherine Sinton, Mother

12 May 1909

W. W. White, Registrar

No	382
Date of Notice	12 May 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Henry Clifton	Catherine Constance Sinton
BDM Match (78%)	Davis Henry Clifton	Constance Sinton
	💍 1909/2036
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Musterer	domestic duties
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Alford Forest	Alford Forest
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	09/2998
Consent	Catherine Sinton, Mother
Date of Certificate	12 May 1909
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

383

15 May 1909

Thomas James Bell
Rachel Jane Wakelin

Thomas James Bell
Rachel Jane Wakelin
💍 1909/1942

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
domestic duties

37
23

Ashton
Huntingdon

3 years
10 years

Primitive Methodist Church Ashburton

09/2992

15 May 1909

Rev. R. J. Liddell

No	383
Date of Notice	15 May 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas James Bell	Rachel Jane Wakelin
	💍 1909/1942
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	domestic duties
Age	37	23
Dwelling Place	Ashton	Huntingdon
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church Ashburton
Folio	09/2992
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Liddell

384

21 May 1909

James Cairne Mudie
Annie Meharry

James Nairne Mudie
Annie MeHarry
💍 1909/2043

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Tailoress

31
34

Ashburton
Tinwald

2 years
34 years

At the dwelling of William Meharry, Tinwald

09/2999

21 May 1909

Rev. J. A. Brown

No	384
Date of Notice	21 May 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Cairne Mudie	Annie Meharry
BDM Match (93%)	James Nairne Mudie	Annie MeHarry
	💍 1909/2043
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Tailoress
Age	31	34
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Tinwald
Length of Residence	2 years	34 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of William Meharry, Tinwald
Folio	09/2999
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 May 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Brown

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).