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 742

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 30 September 1909 Registrar G. Chisholm

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

[illegible]

9 July 1909

George Woollett
Ellen Rice

George Woollett
Ellen Rice
💍 1909/4277

Bachelor
Widow

Carpenter
Domestic duties

43
45

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

3 months
28 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Port Chalmers

09/5641

9 July 1909

George Galloway Chisholm, Registrar

No	[illegible]
Date of Notice	9 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Woollett	Ellen Rice
	💍 1909/4277
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	43	45
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	3 months	28 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Port Chalmers
Folio	09/5641
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1909
Officiating Minister	George Galloway Chisholm, Registrar

9 July 1909

Colin Macdonald
Elizabeth Mary Smith

Colin Macdonald
Elizabeth Mary Smith
💍 1909/4257

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

30
29

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

11 Months
29 Years

Residence of James David Smith, Mount Street, Port Chalmers

09/5645

9 July 1909

Rev. Geo. Wm. Christian

No	8
Date of Notice	9 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colin Macdonald	Elizabeth Mary Smith
	💍 1909/4257
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	11 Months	29 Years
Marriage Place	Residence of James David Smith, Mount Street, Port Chalmers
Folio	09/5645
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Wm. Christian

17 July 1909

John Hussey
Rachael Martha Purvis

John Hussey
Rachael Martha Purvis
💍 1909/4278

Bachelor
Spinster

Dealer
Domestic duties

24
21

Usual: Dunedin. Present: Port Chalmers (about 2 weeks)
Usual: Moa Creek - Otago. Present: Lower Harbour, Port Chalmers: 1 month.

4 years
21 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Port Chalmers

09/5642

17 July 1909

George Galloway Chisholm, Registrar

No	9
Date of Notice	17 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hussey	Rachael Martha Purvis
	💍 1909/4278
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dealer	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Usual: Dunedin. Present: Port Chalmers (about 2 weeks)	Usual: Moa Creek - Otago. Present: Lower Harbour, Port Chalmers: 1 month.
Length of Residence	4 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Port Chalmers
Folio	09/5642
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1909
Officiating Minister	George Galloway Chisholm, Registrar

26 July 1909

Hugh Allan Binnie
Henrietta Beavers

Hugh Allen Binnie
Henrietta Bevars
💍 1909/4169

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy farmer
Tailoress

23
30

Mihiwaka
Caversham, Dunedin

4 1/2 months
about 26 years

Residence of William Beavers, Caversham Rise, Dunedin

09/5523

26 July 1909

Rev. Frederick Bands

No	10
Date of Notice	26 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Allan Binnie	Henrietta Beavers
BDM Match (91%)	Hugh Allen Binnie	Henrietta Bevars
	💍 1909/4169
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy farmer	Tailoress
Age	23	30
Dwelling Place	Mihiwaka	Caversham, Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 1/2 months	about 26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Beavers, Caversham Rise, Dunedin
Folio	09/5523
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Frederick Bands

7 September 1909

Frank Cornet
Grace Macdonald

Frank Cornet
Grace Macdonald
💍 1909/4279

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer
Nil

29
29

At present at sea: (p.s. Waitangi)
Port Chalmers (Recently arrived in New Zealand)

-
3 days

Residence of Mrs. David Stephens, Bermicia Street, Port Chalmers

09/5643

7 September 1909

Rev. Edward C. Tennent

No	11
Date of Notice	7 September 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Cornet	Grace Macdonald
	💍 1909/4279
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer	Nil
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	At present at sea: (p.s. Waitangi)	Port Chalmers (Recently arrived in New Zealand)
Length of Residence	-	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. David Stephens, Bermicia Street, Port Chalmers
Folio	09/5643
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 September 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edward C. Tennent

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).