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 518

District of East Taieri Quarter ending 31 December 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

4 October 1909

Robert Allen
Ellen Ann Drummond

Robert Allen
Ellen Ann Drummond
💍 1909/7682

Widower
Spinster

Millworker

58
36

Mosgiel, Otago
Mosgiel, Otago

34 years
36 years

Registrar's Office, Mosgiel

09/7718

4 October 1909

G. B. Burns, Registrar

No	27
Date of Notice	4 October 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Allen	Ellen Ann Drummond
	💍 1909/7682
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Millworker
Age	58	36
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel, Otago	Mosgiel, Otago
Length of Residence	34 years	36 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Mosgiel
Folio	09/7718
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1909
Officiating Minister	G. B. Burns, Registrar

6 October 1909

William Thomas Connor
Margaret Edith Thornley

William Thomas Connor
Margaret Edith Thornley
💍 1909/5975

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
20

Brighton, Otago
Brighton, Otago

1 year
9 months

M. Thornley's Private Hotel, Brighton

09/7721

John Thornley, father

6 October 1909

Rev. H. J. Hastie, Dunedin

No	28
Date of Notice	6 October 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Connor	Margaret Edith Thornley
	💍 1909/5975
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Brighton, Otago	Brighton, Otago
Length of Residence	1 year	9 months
Marriage Place	M. Thornley's Private Hotel, Brighton
Folio	09/7721
Consent	John Thornley, father
Date of Certificate	6 October 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Hastie, Dunedin

3 November 1909

John Alexander Robertson
Elizabeth Smith

John Alexander Robertson
Elizabeth Smith
💍 1909/6303

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

31
32

Mosgiel, Otago
Mosgiel, Otago

3 days
32 years

Registrar's Office, Mosgiel

09/7719

3 November 1909

G. B. Burns, Registrar

No	29
Date of Notice	3 November 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander Robertson	Elizabeth Smith
	💍 1909/6303
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel, Otago	Mosgiel, Otago
Length of Residence	3 days	32 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Mosgiel
Folio	09/7719
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1909
Officiating Minister	G. B. Burns, Registrar

9 November 1909

Oliphant Denham Fraser
Janet Euman Beveridge

Oliphant Denham Fraser
Janet Euman Beveridge
💍 1909/6304

Bachelor
Spinster

Auctioneer

25
26

Mosgiel, Otago
Mosgiel, Otago

3 days
10 years

Presbyterian Church, Mosgiel

09/7720

9 November 1909

Rev. J. Aitken, Mosgiel

No	30
Date of Notice	9 November 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oliphant Denham Fraser	Janet Euman Beveridge
	💍 1909/6304
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel, Otago	Mosgiel, Otago
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Mosgiel
Folio	09/7720
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 November 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Aitken, Mosgiel

23 November 1909

William Bradshaw McKegg
Helen Margaret Marshall

William Bradshaw McKegg
Helen Margaret Marshall
💍 1909/6481

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
25

Mosgiel, Otago
Owhiro, Otago

1 year
3 years

East Taieri Church

09/8119

23 November 1909

Rev. A. W. Kimmont, East Taieri

No	31
Date of Notice	23 November 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Bradshaw McKegg	Helen Margaret Marshall
	💍 1909/6481
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel, Otago	Owhiro, Otago
Length of Residence	1 year	3 years
Marriage Place	East Taieri Church
Folio	09/8119
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 November 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. Kimmont, East Taieri

17 December 1909

John Daniel Young
Isabella Park Laird

John Daniel Young
Isabella Park Laird
💍 1909/6302

Bachelor
Spinster

Spinner

32
28

Mosgiel, Otago
Mosgiel, Otago

26 years
15 years

Baptist Church, Mosgiel

09/7717

17 December 1909

Rev. E. H. Hobday, Roslyn

No	32
Date of Notice	17 December 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Daniel Young	Isabella Park Laird
	💍 1909/6302
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Spinner
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel, Otago	Mosgiel, Otago
Length of Residence	26 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Mosgiel
Folio	09/7717
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. H. Hobday, Roslyn

20 December 1909

Andrew Young Smellie
Agnes Ironside

Andrew Young Smellie
Agnes Ironside
💍 1909/6407

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

35
27

North Taieri, Otago
Oamaru, Otago

31 years
4 years

House of M. Ironside, Oamaru

09/8017

20 December 1909

Rev. R. J. Porter, Oamaru

No	33
Date of Notice	20 December 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Young Smellie	Agnes Ironside
	💍 1909/6407
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	North Taieri, Otago	Oamaru, Otago
Length of Residence	31 years	4 years
Marriage Place	House of M. Ironside, Oamaru
Folio	09/8017
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Porter, Oamaru

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).