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 703

District of Orepuki Quarter ending 31 December 1909 Registrar Thomas Leonard Felton

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

11 October 1909

John William Moon Wright
Annie Westburg

John William Moore Wright
Annie Westbury
💍 1909/6620

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

33
29

Waihoaka
Invercargill

4 years
29 years

Registry Office Invercargill

09/7748

11 October 1909

Registrar Invercargill

No	5
Date of Notice	11 October 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Moon Wright	Annie Westburg
BDM Match (92%)	John William Moore Wright	Annie Westbury
	💍 1909/6620
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Waihoaka	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Registry Office Invercargill
Folio	09/7748
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1909
Officiating Minister	Registrar Invercargill

22 October 1909

George Crawford Kerse
Margaret Kerr McLaren

George Crawford Kerse
Margaret Keir McLaren
💍 1909/6224

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic

23
21

Orepuki
Dunedin

6 years
18 Months

First Church Dunedin

09/7608

22 October 1909

Rev. A. Watt

No	6
Date of Notice	22 October 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Crawford Kerse	Margaret Kerr McLaren
BDM Match (98%)	George Crawford Kerse	Margaret Keir McLaren
	💍 1909/6224
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Orepuki	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 years	18 Months
Marriage Place	First Church Dunedin
Folio	09/7608
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Watt

1 November 1909

Herbert Leslie Popham
Amelia Jane Deer

Herbert Leslie Popham
Amelia Jane Deer
💍 1909/6047

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

26
20

Orepuki
Orepuki

26 years
2 years

Presbyterian Church Orepuki

09/7835

Alonzo Thomas Deer, Father

1 November 1909

Rev. A. G. Blair

No	7
Date of Notice	1 November 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Leslie Popham	Amelia Jane Deer
	💍 1909/6047
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Orepuki	Orepuki
Length of Residence	26 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Orepuki
Folio	09/7835
Consent	Alonzo Thomas Deer, Father
Date of Certificate	1 November 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Blair

24 December 1909

Thomas Jacobs
Florence Muriel Slucks

Thomas Jacobs
Fanny Weale
💍 1909/225

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Domestic

25
22

Pahia
Te Sumata

25 years
22 years

John Slucks Private House (Orepuki)

09/7833

24 December 1909

Rev. A. G. Blair

No	8
Date of Notice	24 December 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Jacobs	Florence Muriel Slucks
BDM Match (61%)	Thomas Jacobs	Fanny Weale
	💍 1909/225
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Domestic
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Pahia	Te Sumata
Length of Residence	25 years	22 years
Marriage Place	John Slucks Private House (Orepuki)
Folio	09/7833
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Blair

28 December 1909

William Thomas Perriam
Margaret Corkery

William Thomas Perriam
Margaret Corkery
💍 1909/6046

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

30
25

Waituna
Tewaewae

3 Days
25 years

St Josephs Church Tewaewae

09/7834

28 December 1909

Rev. Father Murphy

No	9
Date of Notice	28 December 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Perriam	Margaret Corkery
	💍 1909/6046
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Waituna	Tewaewae
Length of Residence	3 Days	25 years
Marriage Place	St Josephs Church Tewaewae
Folio	09/7834
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 December 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Murphy

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).