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 055

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1909 Registrar Lyonel Charles Williams

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

215

31 March 1909

Leonard Stanley Burley
Mabel Bowden

Leonard Stanley Burley
Mabel Bowden
💍 1909/2192

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

27
26

Spreydon
Sydenham

Life
Life

Methodist Church, Selwyn St., Sydenham

09/3227

31 March 1909

Rev. J. M. Lochore, Methodist

No	215
Date of Notice	31 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Stanley Burley	Mabel Bowden
	💍 1909/2192
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Sydenham
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Selwyn St., Sydenham
Folio	09/3227
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Lochore, Methodist

216

31 March 1909

Trevor Hugh Foster
Jessie Rose Joseph

Trevor Hugh Foster
Jessie Rose Joseph
💍 1909/1855

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

31
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
Life

St. Peter's Church, Riccarton

09/3058

31 March 1909

Rev. C. S. Bowden, Anglican

No	216
Date of Notice	31 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Trevor Hugh Foster	Jessie Rose Joseph
	💍 1909/1855
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Riccarton
Folio	09/3058
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. S. Bowden, Anglican

217

31 March 1909

Martin Luther Feist
Olive Kent

Martin Luther Fisk
Olive Kent
💍 1909/7133

Widower
Spinster

Warehouseman

31
27

Wellington
Christchurch

Life
Life

Home of Mr. R. Kent, Victoria St., Christchurch

09/1318

31 March 1909

Rev. Dr. Brown, Presbyterian

No	217
Date of Notice	31 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Luther Feist	Olive Kent
BDM Match (95%)	Martin Luther Fisk	Olive Kent
	💍 1909/7133
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Christchurch
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Home of Mr. R. Kent, Victoria St., Christchurch
Folio	09/1318
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. Brown, Presbyterian

218

31 March 1909

Kenneth Malcolm McDonald
Margaret London Campbell

Kenneth Malcolm McDonald
Margaret Loudon Campbell
💍 1909/7927

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

38
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 weeks
4 years

St. Andrew's Church, Christchurch

09/3052

31 March 1909

Rev. J. Mackenzie, Presbyterian

No	218
Date of Notice	31 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Malcolm McDonald	Margaret London Campbell
BDM Match (98%)	Kenneth Malcolm McDonald	Margaret Loudon Campbell
	💍 1909/7927
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 weeks	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Christchurch
Folio	09/3052
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Mackenzie, Presbyterian

219

31 March 1909

John George Kirk
Elizabeth Louisa Hanna

John George Kirk
Elizabeth Louisa Hannah
💍 1909/6634

Bachelor
Widow

Lineman

39
32

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 months
2 years

Methodist Church, Fitzgerald Avenue, Christchurch

09/1304

31 March 1909

Rev. W. Ready, Methodist

No	219
Date of Notice	31 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Kirk	Elizabeth Louisa Hanna
BDM Match (98%)	John George Kirk	Elizabeth Louisa Hannah
	💍 1909/6634
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Lineman
Age	39	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Fitzgerald Avenue, Christchurch
Folio	09/1304
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Ready, Methodist

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).