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 599

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 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

103

3 July 1909

Samuel James Stanley
Annie Keown

Samuel James Stanley
Annie Keown
💍 1909/7992

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

24
22

Tweed Street South, Invercargill
Gorepton South, Invercargill

5 months
3 years

Residence of William Jones, Clyde Street, Invercargill

09/5586

3 July 1909

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	103
Date of Notice	3 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel James Stanley	Annie Keown
	💍 1909/7992
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Tweed Street South, Invercargill	Gorepton South, Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Jones, Clyde Street, Invercargill
Folio	09/5586
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

104

6 July 1909

Irvine Lawrence Green
Margaret Rose Shields

Irvine Laurence Green
Margaret Rose Shields
💍 1909/7988

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

19
23

Tweed Street, Invercargill
Dublin Street, Invercargill

1 year
5 years

Residence of Matilda Green, Sophia Green, Tweed Street, Invercargill

09/5600

Matilda Green, mother

6 July 1909

Rev. W. Laycock

No	104
Date of Notice	6 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Irvine Lawrence Green	Margaret Rose Shields
BDM Match (98%)	Irvine Laurence Green	Margaret Rose Shields
	💍 1909/7988
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	19	23
Dwelling Place	Tweed Street, Invercargill	Dublin Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 year	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Matilda Green, Sophia Green, Tweed Street, Invercargill
Folio	09/5600
Consent	Matilda Green, mother
Date of Certificate	6 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Laycock

105

8 July 1909

Michael Francis Moloney
Ethel May Glover

Michael Francis Moloney
Ethel May Glover
💍 1909/4218

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

19
19

Otatara, Invercargill
Kapuka, Invercargill

3 weeks
2 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

09/5580

James Glover, father

26 July 1909

Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

No	105
Date of Notice	8 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Francis Moloney	Ethel May Glover
	💍 1909/4218
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Otatara, Invercargill	Kapuka, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 weeks	2 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	09/5580
Consent	James Glover, father
Date of Certificate	26 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

106

8 July 1909

Robert Troup
Elizabeth Eveleigh

Robert Troup
Elizabeth Eveleigh
💍 1909/7999

Bachelor
Spinster

Commission Agent
Domestic

63
55

Tay Street, Invercargill
Tay Street, Invercargill

8 months
2 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

09/5587

8 July 1909

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	106
Date of Notice	8 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Troup	Elizabeth Eveleigh
	💍 1909/7999
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commission Agent	Domestic
Age	63	55
Dwelling Place	Tay Street, Invercargill	Tay Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	8 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	09/5587
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

107

10 July 1909

Hubert Walter Faith
Celia Lilian Darling

Herbert Walter Faith
Celia Lilian Bailey
💍 1909/7984

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

23
19

Gorepton South, Invercargill
Earn Street, Invercargill

28 years
19 years

Residence of John Longley, Earn Street, Invercargill

09/5596

Margaret Longley, mother

10 July 1909

Rev. J. R. Parris

No	107
Date of Notice	10 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubert Walter Faith	Celia Lilian Darling
BDM Match (83%)	Herbert Walter Faith	Celia Lilian Bailey
	💍 1909/7984
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Gorepton South, Invercargill	Earn Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	28 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Longley, Earn Street, Invercargill
Folio	09/5596
Consent	Margaret Longley, mother
Date of Certificate	10 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Parris

108

10 July 1909

James Kay Sutherland
Alena Gill

James McKay Sutherland
Alma Gill
💍 1909/8000

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Domestic

74
27

Earn Street, Invercargill
Tay Street, Invercargill

2 weeks
2 weeks

Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

09/5588

10 July 1909

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	108
Date of Notice	10 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Kay Sutherland	Alena Gill
BDM Match (85%)	James McKay Sutherland	Alma Gill
	💍 1909/8000
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Domestic
Age	74	27
Dwelling Place	Earn Street, Invercargill	Tay Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	09/5588
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).