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 269

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 March 1909 Registrar Alex. Montgomery

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 January 1909

John Gibb
Mary Mackay

John Gibb
Mary MacKay
💍 1909/1361

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner
Household duties

27
24

Timaru
Timaru

4 days
4 days

Dwellinghouse of James Forrest, 27 King Street, Timaru

09/1180

4 January 1909

Rev. S. Buchanan, Independent Free Church Minister

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gibb	Mary Mackay
BDM Match (95%)	John Gibb	Mary MacKay
	💍 1909/1361
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Household duties
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of James Forrest, 27 King Street, Timaru
Folio	09/1180
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Buchanan, Independent Free Church Minister

4 January 1909

Joseph Henry Sinclair
Minnie Sinclair

Joseph Henry
Minnie Sinclair
💍 1909/7912

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
20

Timaru
Timaru

6 months
3 years

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

09/5061

Father John Sinclair

4 January 1909

Rev. J. Gubman, Roman Catholic Priest

No	2
Date of Notice	4 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Henry Sinclair	Minnie Sinclair
BDM Match (79%)	Joseph Henry	Minnie Sinclair
	💍 1909/7912
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	6 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	09/5061
Consent	Father John Sinclair
Date of Certificate	4 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gubman, Roman Catholic Priest

6 January 1909

William Francis Hogan
Ellen Boaker

William Francis Hogan
Ellen Boaker
💍 1909/7913

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand
Domestic duties

21
22

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
1 month

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

09/5062

6 January 1909

Rev. J. Gubman, Roman Catholic Priest

No	3
Date of Notice	6 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Francis Hogan	Ellen Boaker
	💍 1909/7913
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand	Domestic duties
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	09/5062
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gubman, Roman Catholic Priest

16 January 1909

James Mason
Hannah Elizabeth Frewes

James Mason
Hannah Elizabeth Frires
💍 1909/7932

Widower
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic

49
27

Timaru
Timaru

35 years
5 years

St. Mary's English Church, Timaru

09/5057

16 January 1909

Archdeacon H. W. Harper, Church of England Clergyman

No	4
Date of Notice	16 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Mason	Hannah Elizabeth Frewes
BDM Match (96%)	James Mason	Hannah Elizabeth Frires
	💍 1909/7932
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic
Age	49	27
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	35 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's English Church, Timaru
Folio	09/5057
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon H. W. Harper, Church of England Clergyman

22 January 1909

William Arthur Jordan
Catherine Sugrue

William Arthur John Jordan
Catherine Sugrue
💍 1909/7914

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Household duties

33
25

Timaru
Timaru

32 years
1 month

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

09/5063

22 January 1909

Rev. J. Gubman, Roman Catholic Priest

No	5
Date of Notice	22 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur Jordan	Catherine Sugrue
BDM Match (90%)	William Arthur John Jordan	Catherine Sugrue
	💍 1909/7914
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Household duties
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	32 years	1 month
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	09/5063
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gubman, Roman Catholic Priest

2 February 1909

Thomas George Lawler
Mary Ellen Fitzgerald

Thomas George Lawler
Mary Ellen Fitzgerald
💍 1909/1200

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Music Teacher

30
31

Eltham District
Timaru

1 month
31 years

Roman Catholic Church, Eltham

09/903

2 February 1909

Rev. Thomas Haire, Roman Catholic Priest

No	6
Date of Notice	2 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas George Lawler	Mary Ellen Fitzgerald
	💍 1909/1200
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Music Teacher
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Eltham District	Timaru
Length of Residence	1 month	31 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Eltham
Folio	09/903
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Haire, Roman Catholic Priest

4 February 1909

George Henry Hall
Elsie Clarissa Page

George Henry Hall
Elsie Clarissa Jage
💍 1909/210

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman, N.Z. Railways
Weaver

24
23

Timaru
Timaru

16 years
12 years

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

09/70

4 February 1909

Rev. S. Buchanan, Independent Free Church Minister

No	7
Date of Notice	4 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Hall	Elsie Clarissa Page
BDM Match (97%)	George Henry Hall	Elsie Clarissa Jage
	💍 1909/210
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman, N.Z. Railways	Weaver
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	16 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	09/70
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Buchanan, Independent Free Church Minister

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).