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 516

District of East Taieri Quarter ending 30 September 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

2 July 1909

William James Tait
Norah Frances Doocey

William James Tait
Norah Frances Doocey
💍 1909/4185

Bachelor
Spinster

Cal. Proprietor

22
24

Mosgiel, Otago
Wylies Crossing, Mosgiel, Otago

22 years
7 months

Registrar's Office, Mosgiel, Otago

09/5376

2 July 1909

G. B. Burns, Registrar

No	20
Date of Notice	2 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Tait	Norah Frances Doocey
	💍 1909/4185
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cal. Proprietor
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel, Otago	Wylies Crossing, Mosgiel, Otago
Length of Residence	22 years	7 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Mosgiel, Otago
Folio	09/5376
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1909
Officiating Minister	G. B. Burns, Registrar

5 July 1909

Mark Learmont Baxter
Margaret McCorkindale

Mark Learmont Baxter
Margaret McCorkindale
💍 1909/4186

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
27

Otokia, Otago
Otokia, Otago

4 years
27 years

House of John McCorkindale, Otokia, Otago

09/5547

5 July 1909

Rev. D. McColl, Otokia

No	21
Date of Notice	5 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mark Learmont Baxter	Margaret McCorkindale
	💍 1909/4186
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Otokia, Otago	Otokia, Otago
Length of Residence	4 years	27 years
Marriage Place	House of John McCorkindale, Otokia, Otago
Folio	09/5547
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. McColl, Otokia

10 July 1909

Robert Wedderspoon Davidson Haggen
Christina Jane Haggen

Robert Wedderspoon
Christina Jane Davidson Haggen
💍 1909/4322

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

37
40

Mosgiel, Otago
North Taieri, Otago

30 years
40 years

House of Mr. Haggen, North Taieri, Otago

09/5684

10 July 1909

Rev. J. Lymburn, North Taieri

No	22
Date of Notice	10 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Wedderspoon Davidson Haggen	Christina Jane Haggen
BDM Match (61%)	Robert Wedderspoon	Christina Jane Davidson Haggen
	💍 1909/4322
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	37	40
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel, Otago	North Taieri, Otago
Length of Residence	30 years	40 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Haggen, North Taieri, Otago
Folio	09/5684
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Lymburn, North Taieri

26 July 1909

William Anderson Cooper
Lily Ethel McCormick Cooper

William Anderson
Lily Ethel McCormick Cooper
💍 1909/7704

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
20

Wylies Crossing, Mosgiel, Otago
Dunedin, Otago

3 months
3 days

Knox Church, Dunedin, Otago

09/5481

Rosa Jane Meadows, mother

26 July 1909

Rev. H. B. Gray, North East Valley, Dunedin

No	23
Date of Notice	26 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Anderson Cooper	Lily Ethel McCormick Cooper
BDM Match (85%)	William Anderson	Lily Ethel McCormick Cooper
	💍 1909/7704
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Wylies Crossing, Mosgiel, Otago	Dunedin, Otago
Length of Residence	3 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Dunedin, Otago
Folio	09/5481
Consent	Rosa Jane Meadows, mother
Date of Certificate	26 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Gray, North East Valley, Dunedin

11 August 1909

John Hope Leitch
Fanny Keast

John Hope Leitch
Fanny Keast
💍 1909/4184

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

42
25

Otokia, Otago
Mosgiel, Otago

4 years
3 days

Registrar's Office, Mosgiel, Otago

09/5345

11 August 1909

G. B. Burns, Registrar

No	24
Date of Notice	11 August 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hope Leitch	Fanny Keast
	💍 1909/4184
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	42	25
Dwelling Place	Otokia, Otago	Mosgiel, Otago
Length of Residence	4 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Mosgiel, Otago
Folio	09/5345
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1909
Officiating Minister	G. B. Burns, Registrar

31 August 1909

William Henry Woodward
Helen Anderson Watt

William Henry Woodward
Helen Anderson Watt
💍 1909/4194

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

30
30

Mosgiel, Otago
Mosgiel, Otago

3 days
2 years

Presbyterian Church, Mosgiel, Otago

09/5348

31 August 1909

Rev. J. Aitken, Mosgiel

No	25
Date of Notice	31 August 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Woodward	Helen Anderson Watt
	💍 1909/4194
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel, Otago	Mosgiel, Otago
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Mosgiel, Otago
Folio	09/5348
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Aitken, Mosgiel

6 September 1909

Harold Edward Barth
Elizabeth Pryor

Harold Edward Barth
Elizabeth Pryor
💍 1909/4197

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

31
25

Mosgiel, Otago
Mosgiel, Otago

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Mosgiel, Otago

09/5529

6 September 1909

Rev. J. Aitken, Mosgiel

No	26
Date of Notice	6 September 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Edward Barth	Elizabeth Pryor
	💍 1909/4197
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel, Otago	Mosgiel, Otago
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Mosgiel, Otago
Folio	09/5529
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 September 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).