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 405

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1909 Registrar Henry Waxwell

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

22 February 1909

Alfred William Coombs
Nora Kathleen Witchell

Alfred William Coombs
Nora Kathleen Mitchell
💍 1909/6727

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

27
29

Dunedin
West-Harbour

3 years
29 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

09/1498

22 February 1909

Henry Waxwell

No	97
Date of Notice	22 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred William Coombs	Nora Kathleen Witchell
BDM Match (98%)	Alfred William Coombs	Nora Kathleen Mitchell
	💍 1909/6727
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	West-Harbour
Length of Residence	3 years	29 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	09/1498
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Henry Waxwell

22 February 1909

Walter Powell
Rosemary Gavin

Walter Powell
Rosemary Gavin
💍 1909/6740

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer

21
21

Maori Hill
Maori Hill

21 years
1 week

In Holy Innocents Church, Maori Hill

09/1570

22 February 1909

S. J. Nevill

No	98
Date of Notice	22 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Powell	Rosemary Gavin
	💍 1909/6740
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Maori Hill	Maori Hill
Length of Residence	21 years	1 week
Marriage Place	In Holy Innocents Church, Maori Hill
Folio	09/1570
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1909
Officiating Minister	S. J. Nevill

23 February 1909

Arthur Wild Heap
Emily Gallon

Arthur Wild Heap
Emily Callon
💍 1909/6739

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

36
33

Dunedin
West Harbour

3 days
20 years

In St. Andrew's Church, West Harbour

09/1509

23 February 1909

B. A. Woodthorpe

No	99
Date of Notice	23 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Wild Heap	Emily Gallon
BDM Match (96%)	Arthur Wild Heap	Emily Callon
	💍 1909/6739
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	36	33
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	West Harbour
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	In St. Andrew's Church, West Harbour
Folio	09/1509
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1909
Officiating Minister	B. A. Woodthorpe

100

23 February 1909

Conrad Arthur Barth
Alison Ewart

Conrad Arthur Booth
Alison Ewart
💍 1909/6752

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

25
28

St. Kilda
Caversham

4 days
3 days

In the First Church, Dunedin

09/1688

23 February 1909

Wm. McDonald

No	100
Date of Notice	23 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Conrad Arthur Barth	Alison Ewart
BDM Match (95%)	Conrad Arthur Booth	Alison Ewart
	💍 1909/6752
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	St. Kilda	Caversham
Length of Residence	4 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the First Church, Dunedin
Folio	09/1688
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Wm. McDonald

101

23 February 1909

Thomas William Dobbie
Ethel Gertrude Thompson

Thomas William Dobbie
Ethel Gertrude Thompson
💍 1909/6758

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

25
23

Dunedin
Caversham

25 years
23 years

In the Baptist Church, Hanover Street, Dunedin

09/1694

23 February 1909

Wm. Hay

No	101
Date of Notice	23 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Dobbie	Ethel Gertrude Thompson
	💍 1909/6758
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Caversham
Length of Residence	25 years	23 years
Marriage Place	In the Baptist Church, Hanover Street, Dunedin
Folio	09/1694
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Wm. Hay

102

23 February 1909

Bernard Ashby Bayley
Pearl Harriet Searle

Bernard Ashby Bayley
Pearle Harriet Searle
💍 1909/7351

Bachelor
Spinster

Tanner

25
21

Burnside
Caversham

3 months
3 days

In St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin

09/1717

23 February 1909

H. G. Gould

No	102
Date of Notice	23 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard Ashby Bayley	Pearl Harriet Searle
BDM Match (98%)	Bernard Ashby Bayley	Pearle Harriet Searle
	💍 1909/7351
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tanner
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Burnside	Caversham
Length of Residence	3 months	3 days
Marriage Place	In St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	09/1717
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1909
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gould

103

23 February 1909

Sydney John Thompson
Louisa Jolly

Sydney John Thompson
Louisa Jolly
💍 1909/6775

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

26
27

Dunedin
Caversham

6 months
3 months

In St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin

09/1562

23 February 1909

J. Coffey

No	103
Date of Notice	23 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney John Thompson	Louisa Jolly
	💍 1909/6775
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Caversham
Length of Residence	6 months	3 months
Marriage Place	In St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	09/1562
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1909
Officiating Minister	J. Coffey

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).