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 588

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 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

1 April 1909

Thomas Arthur Fenn
Edith Leabel Shirling

Thomas Arthur Fenn
Edith Isabell Stirling
💍 1909/149

Bachelor
Spinster

Surfaceman, N.Z.R.
Domestic

24
21

Grinan Street, Invercargill
Grinan Street, Invercargill

24 years
4 years

Residence of John Shirling, Grinan Street, Invercargill

09/3571

1 April 1909

Rev. W. D. Little

No	46
Date of Notice	1 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Arthur Fenn	Edith Leabel Shirling
BDM Match (91%)	Thomas Arthur Fenn	Edith Isabell Stirling
	💍 1909/149
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman, N.Z.R.	Domestic
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Grinan Street, Invercargill	Grinan Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	24 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Shirling, Grinan Street, Invercargill
Folio	09/3571
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. D. Little

1 April 1909

John McIntosh Brown
Lucy Alice Hodgson

John McIntosh Brown
Lucy Alice Hodgson
💍 1909/4047

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman, W.R.B.
Domestic

30
30

Grinan Street, Invercargill
Morton Road South, Invercargill

10 months
7 years

Residence of P. Hodgson, Morton Road South, Invercargill

09/5406

1 April 1909

Rev. D. J. Murray

No	47
Date of Notice	1 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McIntosh Brown	Lucy Alice Hodgson
	💍 1909/4047
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman, W.R.B.	Domestic
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Grinan Street, Invercargill	Morton Road South, Invercargill
Length of Residence	10 months	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of P. Hodgson, Morton Road South, Invercargill
Folio	09/5406
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. J. Murray

2 April 1909

William John Sabiston
Maggie Taylor

William John Sabiston
Maggie Taylor
💍 1909/2542

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic

22
25

Don Street, Invercargill
Don Street, Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

09/3554

2 April 1909

Registrar of Marriages

No	48
Date of Notice	2 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Sabiston	Maggie Taylor
	💍 1909/2542
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Don Street, Invercargill	Don Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	09/3554
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

2 April 1909

David James Sutherland
Caroline Rose Double

David James Sutherland
Caroline Rose Double
💍 1909/160

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

38
30

Spey Street, Invercargill
Yarrow Street, Invercargill

14 months
10 years

Residence of Robert Double, Yarrow Street, Invercargill

09/3572

2 April 1909

Rev. W. Laye, R.

No	49
Date of Notice	2 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David James Sutherland	Caroline Rose Double
	💍 1909/160
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Spey Street, Invercargill	Yarrow Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	14 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Robert Double, Yarrow Street, Invercargill
Folio	09/3572
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Laye, R.

2 April 1909

Horace Hyger Hanna
Elizabeth Rattray

Horace Flyger Hanna
Elizabeth Rattray
💍 1909/3777

Bachelor
Spinster

Assistant Ironmonger
Domestic

28
24

Conon Street, Invercargill
Leanwood, Waimate, Canterbury

28 years
24 years

Residence of Alexander Morrison, Leanwood, Waimate, Canterbury

09/5100

2 April 1909

Rev. A. Morrison

No	50
Date of Notice	2 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Hyger Hanna	Elizabeth Rattray
BDM Match (95%)	Horace Flyger Hanna	Elizabeth Rattray
	💍 1909/3777
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Assistant Ironmonger	Domestic
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Conon Street, Invercargill	Leanwood, Waimate, Canterbury
Length of Residence	28 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Alexander Morrison, Leanwood, Waimate, Canterbury
Folio	09/5100
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Morrison

3 April 1909

John Dawson
Eliza Miller

John Dawson
Eliza Miller
💍 1909/167

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

21
24

Bay Road, Invercargill
Waitiki, Invercargill

21 years
24 years

Residence of James Henderson, Elle Road North, Invercargill

09/3573

3 April 1909

Rev. T. A. Pybus

No	51
Date of Notice	3 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Dawson	Eliza Miller
	💍 1909/167
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Bay Road, Invercargill	Waitiki, Invercargill
Length of Residence	21 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of James Henderson, Elle Road North, Invercargill
Folio	09/3573
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. A. Pybus

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).