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 401

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1909 Registrar Henry Maxwell

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

6 February 1909

Archibald John Shephard
Maud Mary Burns

Archibald John Shephard
Maud Mary Burns
💍 1909/6722

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Machinist

30 years
26 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
2 years

In St. Matthews Church

09/1444

6 February 1909

Wm. Curzon Diggers

No	70
Date of Notice	6 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald John Shephard	Maud Mary Burns
	💍 1909/6722
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Machinist
Age	30 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In St. Matthews Church
Folio	09/1444
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Wm. Curzon Diggers

6 February 1909

William Henry Edward Schofield
Bertha Donaldson

William Henry Edward Schofield
Bertha Donaldson
💍 1909/6770

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Upholstress

21 years
25 years

Mornington
Caversham

21 years
2 years

In the house of the Presbyterian Church

09/1682

6 February 1909

W. Dutton

No	71
Date of Notice	6 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Edward Schofield	Bertha Donaldson
	💍 1909/6770
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Upholstress
Age	21 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Caversham
Length of Residence	21 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Presbyterian Church
Folio	09/1682
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1909
Officiating Minister	W. Dutton

6 February 1909

Felix Hanlon Mitchell
Blanche Kennard

Felix Hanlon Mitchell
Blanche Kennard
💍 1909/7267

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer
Dressmaker

29 years
27 years

West Harbour
Caversham

29 years
27 years

In the Kew Methodist Church

09/1624

6 February 1909

S. Bailey

No	72
Date of Notice	6 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Felix Hanlon Mitchell	Blanche Kennard
	💍 1909/7267
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer	Dressmaker
Age	29 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	West Harbour	Caversham
Length of Residence	29 years	27 years
Marriage Place	In the Kew Methodist Church
Folio	09/1624
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1909
Officiating Minister	S. Bailey

6 February 1909

John Alfred Hasford
Margaret Shaw

John Alfred Hesford
Margaret Shaw
💍 1909/7250

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinetmaker

21 years
21 years

Dunedin
South Dunedin

18 months
5 years

In the house of W. W. J. Shaw, 36 Wesley Street, South Dunedin

09/1585

6 February 1909

Wm. Grigg

No	73
Date of Notice	6 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alfred Hasford	Margaret Shaw
BDM Match (97%)	John Alfred Hesford	Margaret Shaw
	💍 1909/7250
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker
Age	21 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	18 months	5 years
Marriage Place	In the house of W. W. J. Shaw, 36 Wesley Street, South Dunedin
Folio	09/1585
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Wm. Grigg

6 February 1909

Thomas Davis
Edith Medley

Thomas Davis
Edith Medley
💍 1909/6714

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

26 years
23 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
4 years

In St. Matthews Church

09/1459

6 February 1909

W. Curzon Diggers

No	74
Date of Notice	6 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Davis	Edith Medley
	💍 1909/6714
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	26 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	In St. Matthews Church
Folio	09/1459
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1909
Officiating Minister	W. Curzon Diggers

8 February 1909

Gordon Donaldson
Catherine Bayne

Gordon Donaldson
Catherine Bayne
💍 1909/7166

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24 years
26 years

Dunedin
Otakou

1 year
3 weeks

In the Public Hall, Otakou, Otago

09/1430

8 February 1909

P. Hearn

No	75
Date of Notice	8 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Donaldson	Catherine Bayne
	💍 1909/7166
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Otakou
Length of Residence	1 year	3 weeks
Marriage Place	In the Public Hall, Otakou, Otago
Folio	09/1430
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1909
Officiating Minister	P. Hearn

9 February 1909

Ernest Edwin Hammond
Adeline Hannah Ridley

Ernest Edwin Hammond
Adeline Hannah Ridley
💍 1909/7759

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

35 years
28 years

Portobello
Portobello

3 days
4 weeks

In the house of W. W. Ridley, Portobello

09/1452

9 February 1909

Wm. Saunders

No	76
Date of Notice	9 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Edwin Hammond	Adeline Hannah Ridley
	💍 1909/7759
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	35 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Portobello	Portobello
Length of Residence	3 days	4 weeks
Marriage Place	In the house of W. W. Ridley, Portobello
Folio	09/1452
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Wm. Saunders

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).