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 184

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 31 December 1909 Registrar William Dryburgh Wallace

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

4 October 1909

John Guthrie
Winifred Doris Russell

John Guthrie
Winifred Doris Russell
💍 1909/5273

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner

32
19

Lyttelton
Christchurch

3 years
19 years

Anglican Church, Merivale

09/7225

Edmund Russell (Father)

8 October 1909

Rev. E. E. Chambers (Anglican)

No	33
Date of Notice	4 October 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Guthrie	Winifred Doris Russell
	💍 1909/5273
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner
Age	32	19
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Merivale
Folio	09/7225
Consent	Edmund Russell (Father)
Date of Certificate	8 October 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Chambers (Anglican)

6 October 1909

William Teed
Lena Catherwood Bird

William Teed
Lona Catherwood Bird
💍 1909/6192

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

44
19

Port Levy
Port Levy

8 years
14 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Lyttelton

09/7450

Mary Elizabeth Bird (Mother)

6 October 1909

W. D. Wallace (Registrar of Marriages)

No	34
Date of Notice	6 October 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Teed	Lena Catherwood Bird
BDM Match (98%)	William Teed	Lona Catherwood Bird
	💍 1909/6192
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	44	19
Dwelling Place	Port Levy	Port Levy
Length of Residence	8 years	14 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Lyttelton
Folio	09/7450
Consent	Mary Elizabeth Bird (Mother)
Date of Certificate	6 October 1909
Officiating Minister	W. D. Wallace (Registrar of Marriages)

21 October 1909

Herbert Deed
Edith Ellen Foote

Herbert Seed
Edith Ellen Foote
💍 1909/6193

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway employee

29
30

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

15 months
30 years

The residence of John Henry Olliver, London St., Lyttelton

09/7451

21 October 1909

Rev. A. Peters (Methodist)

No	35
Date of Notice	21 October 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Deed	Edith Ellen Foote
BDM Match (96%)	Herbert Seed	Edith Ellen Foote
	💍 1909/6193
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway employee
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	15 months	30 years
Marriage Place	The residence of John Henry Olliver, London St., Lyttelton
Folio	09/7451
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Peters (Methodist)

28 October 1909

Thomas Wilson
Helen Reid

Thomas Wilson
Helen Reid
💍 1909/5423

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

38
25

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

38 years
6 years

Presbyterian Church, Lyttelton

09/7447

28 October 1909

Rev. J. J. Bates (Presbyterian)

No	36
Date of Notice	28 October 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Wilson	Helen Reid
	💍 1909/5423
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	38	25
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	38 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Lyttelton
Folio	09/7447
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Bates (Presbyterian)

15 November 1909

Francis Patrick Cole
Lillian Maude Ayers

Francis Patrick Cole
Lillian Maud Ayers
💍 1909/6184

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

36
32

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

18 months
32 years

Holy Trinity Church, Lyttelton

09/7446

15 November 1909

Rev. C. Coates (Anglican)

No	37
Date of Notice	15 November 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Patrick Cole	Lillian Maude Ayers
BDM Match (97%)	Francis Patrick Cole	Lillian Maud Ayers
	💍 1909/6184
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	36	32
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	18 months	32 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Lyttelton
Folio	09/7446
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 November 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Coates (Anglican)

17 November 1909

Thomas Wales
Emily Elizabeth Hillier

Thomas Wales
Emily Elizabeth Hillier
💍 1909/6190

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

24
31

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

27 years
37 years

Holy Trinity Church, Lyttelton

09/7448

17 November 1909

Rev. C. Coates (Anglican)

No	38
Date of Notice	17 November 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Wales	Emily Elizabeth Hillier
	💍 1909/6190
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	24	31
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	27 years	37 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Lyttelton
Folio	09/7448
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 November 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Coates (Anglican)

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).