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 261

District of Temuka Quarter ending 31 March 1909 Registrar J. A. Winterburn

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

12 January 1909

Welliam James Sinclair Shields
Alice Jessie Smith

William James Sinclair Shields
Alice Jessie Smith
💍 1909/6698

Widower
Spinster

Platelayer
Domestic Servant

34
30

Temuka
Temuka

5 months
30 years

Residence of J. A. Smith, Temuka

09/1371

12 January 1909

Rev. C. M. Macdonald, Temuka

No	28
Date of Notice	12 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Welliam James Sinclair Shields	Alice Jessie Smith
BDM Match (98%)	William James Sinclair Shields	Alice Jessie Smith
	💍 1909/6698
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Platelayer	Domestic Servant
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	5 months	30 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. A. Smith, Temuka
Folio	09/1371
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. M. Macdonald, Temuka

1 February 1909

Percy Charles Williams
Mary Ann Fahey

Percy Charles Williams
Mary Ann Fahey
💍 1909/799

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Ladies Hairdresser

26
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

26 years
25 years

Church of England, Temuka

09/0455

1 February 1909

Rev. J. M. Adcock, Temuka

No	29
Date of Notice	1 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Charles Williams	Mary Ann Fahey
	💍 1909/799
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Ladies Hairdresser
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	26 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Temuka
Folio	09/0455
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Adcock, Temuka

22 February 1909

David Bales
Agnes Maze

Paul Bates
Agnes Maze
💍 1909/6699

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic Duties

25
34

Temuka
Milford

20 years
34 years

Presbyterian Church, Temuka

09/1372

22 February 1909

Rev. C. M. Macdonald, Temuka

No	30
Date of Notice	22 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Bales	Agnes Maze
BDM Match (77%)	Paul Bates	Agnes Maze
	💍 1909/6699
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic Duties
Age	25	34
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Milford
Length of Residence	20 years	34 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Temuka
Folio	09/1372
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. M. Macdonald, Temuka

29 March 1909

Hugh Millar
Agnes Hart

Hugh Millar
Agnes Hart
💍 1909/7931

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

42
31

Smithfield
Winchester

6 years
20 years

English Church, Winchester

09/5056

29 March 1909

Rev. J. M. Adcock, Temuka

No	31
Date of Notice	29 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Millar	Agnes Hart
	💍 1909/7931
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	42	31
Dwelling Place	Smithfield	Winchester
Length of Residence	6 years	20 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Winchester
Folio	09/5056
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Adcock, Temuka

29 March 1909

David Chisholm
Elizabeth Catherine Reddie

David Chisholm
Elizabeth Catherine Keddie
💍 1909/6641

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

32
27

Temuka
Timaru

9 months
6 years

Residence of Mr. Reddie, Trafalgar St, Timaru

09/1310

29 March 1909

Rev. Thos. Hinson, Timaru

No	32
Date of Notice	29 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Chisholm	Elizabeth Catherine Reddie
BDM Match (98%)	David Chisholm	Elizabeth Catherine Keddie
	💍 1909/6641
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Timaru
Length of Residence	9 months	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Reddie, Trafalgar St, Timaru
Folio	09/1310
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Hinson, Timaru

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).