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 027

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 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

430

11 November 1909

John Joseph Nolan
Mary Ann Nivew

John Joseph Nolan
Mary Ann Niven
💍 1909/5535

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
domestic duties

29
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

7 years
9 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

09/7149

11 November 1909

W. W. White Registrar

No	430
Date of Notice	11 November 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Nolan	Mary Ann Nivew
BDM Match (96%)	John Joseph Nolan	Mary Ann Niven
	💍 1909/5535
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	domestic duties
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	7 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	09/7149
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 November 1909
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

431

16 November 1909

Harry Andrew Meyenberg
Mabel Winifred Jones

Harry Andrew Meyonby
Mabel Winifred Jones
💍 1909/5739

Bachelor
Spinster

Land Agent
domestic duties

28
29

Taumarunui
Ashburton

4 days
2 years

Baring Square Church Ashburton

09/7143

16 November 1909

Rev. H. E. Bellhouse

No	431
Date of Notice	16 November 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Andrew Meyenberg	Mabel Winifred Jones
BDM Match (91%)	Harry Andrew Meyonby	Mabel Winifred Jones
	💍 1909/5739
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Land Agent	domestic duties
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Baring Square Church Ashburton
Folio	09/7143
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 November 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Bellhouse

432

23 November 1909

Paul Doig
Frances Hay Cameron

Paul Doig
Frances Hay Cameron
💍 1909/5737

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

40
39

Chertsey
Chertsey

30 years
9 years

at the dwelling of John Cameron Chertsey Road

09/7142

23 November 1909

Rev. Adam Begg, M.A.

No	432
Date of Notice	23 November 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Paul Doig	Frances Hay Cameron
	💍 1909/5737
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	40	39
Dwelling Place	Chertsey	Chertsey
Length of Residence	30 years	9 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of John Cameron Chertsey Road
Folio	09/7142
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 November 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Adam Begg, M.A.

433

6 December 1909

Andrew Sutherland
Catherine Gee

Andrew Sutherland
Catherine McGee
💍 1909/5546

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

31
16

Winslow
Winslow

16 years
16 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

09/7150

Thomas W. Gee, father of minor

6 December 1909

W. W. White Registrar

No	433
Date of Notice	6 December 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Sutherland	Catherine Gee
BDM Match (93%)	Andrew Sutherland	Catherine McGee
	💍 1909/5546
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	31	16
Dwelling Place	Winslow	Winslow
Length of Residence	16 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	09/7150
Consent	Thomas W. Gee, father of minor
Date of Certificate	6 December 1909
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

434

8 December 1909

William Hugh Muir
Lilian May Sampson

William Hugh Muir
Lilian May Sampson
💍 1909/5555

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer Labourer
domestic duties

28
22

Waterton
Waterton

28 years
22 years

Church of England at Waterton

09/7153

8 December 1909

Rev. B. G. Jopp

No	434
Date of Notice	8 December 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hugh Muir	Lilian May Sampson
	💍 1909/5555
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer Labourer	domestic duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Waterton	Waterton
Length of Residence	28 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Church of England at Waterton
Folio	09/7153
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. G. Jopp

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).