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 019

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 1909 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

393

6 July 1909

John Daly
Louisa Ethel Allen

John Daly
Louisa Ethel Allen
💍 1909/4003

Bachelor
Spinster

labourer
domestic duties

24
18

Timaru
Winslow

10 days
10 years

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

09/5338

Angald Allen, father of minor

6 July 1909

Rev. I. Tubman

No	393
Date of Notice	6 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Daly	Louisa Ethel Allen
	💍 1909/4003
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	labourer	domestic duties
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Winslow
Length of Residence	10 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	09/5338
Consent	Angald Allen, father of minor
Date of Certificate	6 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Tubman

394

10 July 1909

John Pegler Cameron
Elizabeth McFarlane Doig

John Pegler Cameron
Elizabeth McFarlane Doig
💍 1909/3827

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

36
31

Chertsey
Chertsey

10 years
28 years

as the dwelling of Peter Doig, Senior, Chertsey

09/5124

10 July 1909

Rev. Adam Begg, M.A.

No	394
Date of Notice	10 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Pegler Cameron	Elizabeth McFarlane Doig
	💍 1909/3827
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	36	31
Dwelling Place	Chertsey	Chertsey
Length of Residence	10 years	28 years
Marriage Place	as the dwelling of Peter Doig, Senior, Chertsey
Folio	09/5124
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Adam Begg, M.A.

395

10 July 1909

George Wilson Ross
Alice Maud Jones

George Wilson Ross
Alice Maud Jones
💍 1909/5835

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer
domestic duties

34
33

Chertsey
Ashburton

15 months
18 months

St. Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

09/512

10 July 1909

Rev. B. Whitehouse

No	395
Date of Notice	10 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Wilson Ross	Alice Maud Jones
	💍 1909/5835
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer	domestic duties
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Chertsey	Ashburton
Length of Residence	15 months	18 months
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	09/512
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Whitehouse

396

10 July 1909

James Stewart
Helen Cochrane

James Stewart
Helen Cochrane
💍 1909/3821

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

29
31

Wakanui
Riverside, Wakanui

4 years
31 years

Presbyterian Church, Wakanui

09/5119

10 July 1909

Rev. J. A. Brown

No	396
Date of Notice	10 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Stewart	Helen Cochrane
	💍 1909/3821
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Wakanui	Riverside, Wakanui
Length of Residence	4 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Wakanui
Folio	09/5119
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Brown

397

13 July 1909

Horace Vincent Johnson
Nora Norah Augland

Horace Vincent Johnson
Nora Augland
💍 1909/5839

Bachelor
Spinster

Gas Fitter
domestic duties

25
23

Hampstead
Lowcliffe

25 years
2 years

the Presbytery, Ashburton

09/7575

13 July 1909

Rev. J. J. O'Donnell

No	397
Date of Notice	13 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Vincent Johnson	Nora Norah Augland
BDM Match (83%)	Horace Vincent Johnson	Nora Augland
	💍 1909/5839
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gas Fitter	domestic duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Hampstead	Lowcliffe
Length of Residence	25 years	2 years
Marriage Place	the Presbytery, Ashburton
Folio	09/7575
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. O'Donnell

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).