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 589

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1909

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

5 April 1909

Archibald Campbell
Olive Alice Turner

Archibald Campbell
Olive Alice Turner
💍 1909/2526

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

30
28

Gala Street, Invercargill
McMaster Street East, Invercargill

30 years
7 years

English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

09/3561

5 April 1909

Ven. Archdeacon Th. Stocker

No	52
Date of Notice	5 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Campbell	Olive Alice Turner
	💍 1909/2526
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Gala Street, Invercargill	McMaster Street East, Invercargill
Length of Residence	30 years	7 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	09/3561
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon Th. Stocker

5 April 1909

Theophilus John Sinclair Daniel
Jessie Gordon Stewart

Theophilus John Sinclair Daniel
Jessie Gordon Stewart
💍 1909/168

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

28
28

Doon Street, Invercargill
George Street South, Invercargill

25 years
28 years

Residence of David Stewart, Centre Street South

09/3574

5 April 1909

Rev. J. A. Ryburn

No	53
Date of Notice	5 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Theophilus John Sinclair Daniel	Jessie Gordon Stewart
	💍 1909/168
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Doon Street, Invercargill	George Street South, Invercargill
Length of Residence	25 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of David Stewart, Centre Street South
Folio	09/3574
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Ryburn

5 April 1909

William Goodman Wilcot
Mary Ann Hazlett

William Proudman Wilcon
Mary Ann Hazelett
💍 1909/169

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

37
26

Kensington, Myross Bush, Invercargill
One Tree Point, Tay Street, Invercargill

5 years
1 year

Residence of R. M. Ryburn, Tay Street, Invercargill

09/3575

5 April 1909

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	54
Date of Notice	5 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Goodman Wilcot	Mary Ann Hazlett
BDM Match (88%)	William Proudman Wilcon	Mary Ann Hazelett
	💍 1909/169
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	37	26
Dwelling Place	Kensington, Myross Bush, Invercargill	One Tree Point, Tay Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of R. M. Ryburn, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	09/3575
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

6 April 1909

Harold Humphrey Matthews
Winifred Alice Dawson

Harold Humphrey Matthews
Winifred Alice Marion Dawson
💍 1909/170

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic

24
26

Morton Road South, Invercargill
Conon Street South, Invercargill

24 years
1 year

Primitive Methodist Church, Ella Road South, Invercargill

09/3576

6 April 1909

Rev. J. A. Ryburn

No	55
Date of Notice	6 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Humphrey Matthews	Winifred Alice Dawson
BDM Match (88%)	Harold Humphrey Matthews	Winifred Alice Marion Dawson
	💍 1909/170
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Morton Road South, Invercargill	Conon Street South, Invercargill
Length of Residence	24 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Ella Road South, Invercargill
Folio	09/3576
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Ryburn

6 April 1909

Walter Henderson Bridgman
Florence Jane Bridgman

Walter Henderson
Florence Jane Bridgman
💍 1909/171

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic

24
26

Tweed Street, Invercargill
Mabel Street, Invercargill

2 years
15 years

Residence of J. A. Ryburn, Ellis Road South, Invercargill

09/3577

6 April 1909

Rev. J. A. Ryburn

No	56
Date of Notice	6 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Henderson Bridgman	Florence Jane Bridgman
BDM Match (82%)	Walter Henderson	Florence Jane Bridgman
	💍 1909/171
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Tweed Street, Invercargill	Mabel Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. A. Ryburn, Ellis Road South, Invercargill
Folio	09/3577
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Ryburn

7 April 1909

Alexander Anderson
Dora Mary McKinnon

Alexander Anderson
Dora Mary McKinnon
💍 1909/2521

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

33
21

Wright's Bush, Invercargill
Wright's Bush, Invercargill

3 months
21 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

09/3556

7 April 1909

Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

No	57
Date of Notice	7 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Anderson	Dora Mary McKinnon
	💍 1909/2521
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Wright's Bush, Invercargill	Wright's Bush, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	09/3556
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

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).