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 841

District of Winton Quarter ending 30 September 1909 Registrar I. G. Russell

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

8 July 1909

Donald Gardiner
Janet Honeyman Thomson

Donald Gardiner
Janet Honeyman Thimson
💍 1909/4306

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

29
28

Hochiel
Riverside Hochiel

5 years
28 years

Residence of Mr John Thomson, Riverside, Hochiel

09/5669

8 July 1909

Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

No	55
Date of Notice	8 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Gardiner	Janet Honeyman Thomson
BDM Match (98%)	Donald Gardiner	Janet Honeyman Thimson
	💍 1909/4306
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Hochiel	Riverside Hochiel
Length of Residence	5 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr John Thomson, Riverside, Hochiel
Folio	09/5669
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

14 July 1909

Alexander Edward Pittendrigh
Mary Hand Bayfield Metcalfe

Alexander Edward Pittendrigh
Mary Maud Bayfield Metcalfe
💍 1909/4313

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

36
23

Winton
Winton

3 days
3 days

House of Mrs Henry Diamont, Winton

09/5676

14 July 1909

Rev. C. A. Foston, Methodist

No	56
Date of Notice	14 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Edward Pittendrigh	Mary Hand Bayfield Metcalfe
BDM Match (96%)	Alexander Edward Pittendrigh	Mary Maud Bayfield Metcalfe
	💍 1909/4313
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Winton	Winton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Henry Diamont, Winton
Folio	09/5676
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Foston, Methodist

26 July 1909

William James Selwood
Lily Josephine Book

William James Selwood
Lily Josephine Cook
💍 1909/4308

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Domestic duties

21
22

Winton
Winton

3 days
3 weeks

The Presbyterian Manse, Winton

09/5671

26 July 1909

Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

No	57
Date of Notice	26 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Selwood	Lily Josephine Book
BDM Match (97%)	William James Selwood	Lily Josephine Cook
	💍 1909/4308
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Domestic duties
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Winton	Winton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Manse, Winton
Folio	09/5671
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

27 July 1909

John Henry McKenzie
Isabella Williamson

John Henry McKenzie
Isabella Williamson
💍 1909/4314

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller

29
23

Browns
Browns

29 years
14 years

Residence of Mr McFarlane, Brocon, Browns

09/5677

27 July 1909

Rev. A. K. Ross, Presbyterian

No	58
Date of Notice	27 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry McKenzie	Isabella Williamson
	💍 1909/4314
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Browns	Browns
Length of Residence	29 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr McFarlane, Brocon, Browns
Folio	09/5677
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. K. Ross, Presbyterian

3 August 1909

James Blee
Annie Burns Brighton

James Blee
Annie Burns Brighton
💍 1909/4310

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

29
30

Winton
Winton

26 years
4 months

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Winton

09/5673

3 August 1909

I. G. Russell, Registrar

No	59
Date of Notice	3 August 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Blee	Annie Burns Brighton
	💍 1909/4310
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Winton	Winton
Length of Residence	26 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Winton
Folio	09/5673
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1909
Officiating Minister	I. G. Russell, Registrar

4 August 1909

Richard Alfred Yeppett
Alice Saunders

Richard Alfred Tippett
Alice Saunders
💍 1909/4307

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
21

South Hillend
South Hillend

26 years
3 days

The Presbyterian Church, Winton

09/5670

4 August 1909

Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

No	60
Date of Notice	4 August 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Alfred Yeppett	Alice Saunders
BDM Match (95%)	Richard Alfred Tippett	Alice Saunders
	💍 1909/4307
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	South Hillend	South Hillend
Length of Residence	26 years	3 days
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Church, Winton
Folio	09/5670
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

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).