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 579

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1909 Registrar John Gaunson Petrie

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 January 1909

Charles Petrie Horne
Mabel Evelyn Valentine

Charles Petrie Horne
Mabel Evelyn Valentine
💍 1909/7243

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

26
22

Bluff
Kenwood

4 years
3 days

Presbyterian Church Dee Street Invercargill

09/1599

4 January 1909

Mr James Baird

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Petrie Horne	Mabel Evelyn Valentine
	💍 1909/7243
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Bluff	Kenwood
Length of Residence	4 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Dee Street Invercargill
Folio	09/1599
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Mr James Baird

5 January 1909

Valentine Henry Campbell
Elizabeth Emily Grant

Valentine Henry Campbell
Elizabeth Emily Grant
💍 1909/7259

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Fireman
Musician

24
23

Bowman Street Invercargill
Bowman Street Invercargill

2 years
8 days

Residence of Mrs. Fellows Bowman Street Invercargill

09/1616

5 January 1909

Mr W. D. Hittle

No	2
Date of Notice	5 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Valentine Henry Campbell	Elizabeth Emily Grant
	💍 1909/7259
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Fireman	Musician
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Bowman Street Invercargill	Bowman Street Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	8 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Fellows Bowman Street Invercargill
Folio	09/1616
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Mr W. D. Hittle

5 January 1909

Arthur Steans
Elizabeth Beatrice Barham

Arthur Steans
Elizabeth Beatrice Barham
💍 1909/7760

Widower
Widow

Hairdresser
Domestic

40
29

Kelvin Avenue Invercargill
Kelvin Avenue Invercargill

20 years
29 years

Residence of Charles Thomas Maitland Street South Invercargill

09/1527

5 January 1909

Rev. Y. A. Pybus

No	3
Date of Notice	5 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Steans	Elizabeth Beatrice Barham
	💍 1909/7760
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic
Age	40	29
Dwelling Place	Kelvin Avenue Invercargill	Kelvin Avenue Invercargill
Length of Residence	20 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Charles Thomas Maitland Street South Invercargill
Folio	09/1527
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Y. A. Pybus

9 January 1909

Charles Petrie Horne
Mabel Evelyn Valentine

Charles Petrie Horne
Mabel Evelyn Valentine
💍 1909/7243

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

26
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church Dee Street Invercargill

09/5373

9 January 1909

Rev. James Baird

No	4
Date of Notice	9 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Petrie Horne	Mabel Evelyn Valentine
	💍 1909/7243
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Dee Street Invercargill
Folio	09/5373
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Baird

9 January 1909

Charles Redmond Green
Susan Roche

Charles Redmond Green
Susan Roche
💍 1909/7363

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

28
24

Gore
Gala Street Invercargill

3 years
24 years

Roman Catholic Church Tyne Street Gore

09/1723

9 January 1909

Very Rev. Dean Burke

No	5
Date of Notice	9 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Redmond Green	Susan Roche
	💍 1909/7363
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Gore	Gala Street Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Tyne Street Gore
Folio	09/1723
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Burke

13 January 1909

John Buchanan
Eva Harding

John Buchanan
Eva Harding
💍 1909/7302

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Dressmaker

23
23

Foye Street Invercargill
Roslyn Dunedin

1 year
23 years

First Presbyterian Church Dunedin

09/1652

13 January 1909

Rev. William Scougie

No	6
Date of Notice	13 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Buchanan	Eva Harding
	💍 1909/7302
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Dressmaker
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Foye Street Invercargill	Roslyn Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 year	23 years
Marriage Place	First Presbyterian Church Dunedin
Folio	09/1652
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Scougie

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).