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 514

District of East Taieri Quarter ending 30 June 1909 Registrar Gilbert Burness Burns

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

3 April 1909

James Hope Thomson
Eleanor Harper

James Hope Thomson
Eleanor Harper
💍 1909/2292

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory Operator

22
20

Mosgiel, Otago
East Taieri, Otago

22 years
20 years

House of John Harper

09/3524

John Harper, Father

3 April 1909

Rev. J. Aitken, Mosgiel

No	11
Date of Notice	3 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hope Thomson	Eleanor Harper
	💍 1909/2292
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory Operator
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel, Otago	East Taieri, Otago
Length of Residence	22 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of John Harper
Folio	09/3524
Consent	John Harper, Father
Date of Certificate	3 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Aitken, Mosgiel

6 April 1909

John Mundell Thomson
Ann Gillespie

John Mundell Thomson
Ann Gillespie
💍 1909/6346

Bachelor
Spinster

Stockkeeper

35
22

Mosgiel, Otago
Mosgiel, Otago

3 days
10 years

House of H. Gillespie

09/1721

6 April 1909

Rev. C. H. Hobday, Mosgiel

No	12
Date of Notice	6 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Mundell Thomson	Ann Gillespie
	💍 1909/6346
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stockkeeper
Age	35	22
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel, Otago	Mosgiel, Otago
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	House of H. Gillespie
Folio	09/1721
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Hobday, Mosgiel

6 April 1909

Hugh Orr
Janet Blair

Hugh Orr
Janet Blair
💍 1909/4045

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

44
31

Saddle Hill, Otago
East Taieri, Otago

44 years
31 years

House of Alexander Blair

09/5404

6 April 1909

Rev. R. Fairmaid, Caversham

No	13
Date of Notice	6 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Orr	Janet Blair
	💍 1909/4045
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	44	31
Dwelling Place	Saddle Hill, Otago	East Taieri, Otago
Length of Residence	44 years	31 years
Marriage Place	House of Alexander Blair
Folio	09/5404
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Fairmaid, Caversham

6 April 1909

Alexander Henry Thompson Smith
Betsy Brown

Alexander Henry Thompson Smith
Betsy Brown
💍 1909/2297

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

27
21

Henley, Otago
Henley, Otago

3 days
21 years

Native Hall, Henley

09/3529

6 April 1909

Rev. D. McBoll, Otokia

No	14
Date of Notice	6 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Henry Thompson Smith	Betsy Brown
	💍 1909/2297
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Henley, Otago	Henley, Otago
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Native Hall, Henley
Folio	09/3529
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. McBoll, Otokia

27 April 1909

William Dunlop
Mary McKendrick Nichol

William Dunlop
Mary McKendrick Nichol
💍 1909/2293

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

22
25

Mossburn, Otago
Mossburn, Otago

3 days
7 days

House of Johnstone Nichol

09/3525

27 April 1909

Rev. J. Aitken, Mosgiel

No	15
Date of Notice	27 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Dunlop	Mary McKendrick Nichol
	💍 1909/2293
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Mossburn, Otago	Mossburn, Otago
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	House of Johnstone Nichol
Folio	09/3525
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Aitken, Mosgiel

10 May 1909

Robert Melrose Gibson
Isabella Bringans

Robert Melrose Gibson
Isabella Bringans
💍 1909/2294

Bachelor
Spinster

Miller

33
36

Mosgiel, Otago
Mosgiel, Otago

30 years
30 years

House of William McHead

09/3526

10 May 1909

Rev. J. Aitken, Mosgiel

No	16
Date of Notice	10 May 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Melrose Gibson	Isabella Bringans
	💍 1909/2294
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miller
Age	33	36
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel, Otago	Mosgiel, Otago
Length of Residence	30 years	30 years
Marriage Place	House of William McHead
Folio	09/3526
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 May 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Aitken, Mosgiel

1 June 1909

Matthew Hamilton Swan
Helen Bina Manson

Matthew Hamilton
Helen Bina Manson Swan
💍 1909/2295

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

40
22

Mosgiel, Otago
Mosgiel, Otago

3 days
3 weeks

Presbyterian Church, Bush Road, Mosgiel

09/3527

1 June 1909

Rev. J. Aitken, Mosgiel

No	17
Date of Notice	1 June 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Hamilton Swan	Helen Bina Manson
BDM Match (77%)	Matthew Hamilton	Helen Bina Manson Swan
	💍 1909/2295
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	40	22
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel, Otago	Mosgiel, Otago
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Bush Road, Mosgiel
Folio	09/3527
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Aitken, Mosgiel

1 June 1909

William Watt Leckie
Jemima Watt Bridges

William Watt Leckie
Jemina Datt Bridges
💍 1909/2298

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22
20

Mossburn, Otago
Mossburn, Otago

3 days
20 years

House of G. H. Bridges

09/3530

G. H. Bridges, Father

1 June 1909

Rev. C. H. Hobday, Mosgiel

No	18
Date of Notice	1 June 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Watt Leckie	Jemima Watt Bridges
BDM Match (95%)	William Watt Leckie	Jemina Datt Bridges
	💍 1909/2298
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Mossburn, Otago	Mossburn, Otago
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	House of G. H. Bridges
Folio	09/3530
Consent	G. H. Bridges, Father
Date of Certificate	1 June 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Hobday, Mosgiel

15 June 1909

John Thomas Barnes
Barbara Meharry

John Thomas Barnes
Barbara Meharry
💍 1909/2296

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
21

Mossburn, Otago
Mossburn, Otago

3 days
21 years

House of McMeharry

09/3528

15 June 1909

Rev. J. Aitken, Mosgiel

No	19
Date of Notice	15 June 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Barnes	Barbara Meharry
	💍 1909/2296
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Mossburn, Otago	Mossburn, Otago
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	House of McMeharry
Folio	09/3528
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Aitken, Mosgiel

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).