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 272

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 March 1909 Registrar Alex. Montgomery

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

15 March 1909

Donald Archibald McLean
Jeannie Ann Thomson

Donald Archibald McLean
Jeannie Ann Thomson
💍 1909/207

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable
Domestic duties

28 years
26 years

Timaru
Timaru

18 months
15 years

Dwellinghouse of Mrs. Thomson, Bank Street, Timaru

09/68

15 March 1909

Rev. S. Buchanan, Presbyterian Minister

No	23
Date of Notice	15 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Archibald McLean	Jeannie Ann Thomson
	💍 1909/207
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable	Domestic duties
Age	28 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	18 months	15 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Mrs. Thomson, Bank Street, Timaru
Folio	09/68
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Buchanan, Presbyterian Minister

17 March 1909

John William Hathaway
Violet Emily Cochrane

John William Hathaway
Violet May Cochrane
💍 1909/208

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Clerk
Domestic duties

23 years
18 years

Timaru
Timaru

23 years
11 years

Dwellinghouse of Rev. S. Buchanan, Brown Street, Timaru

09/69

Peter Cochrane, father

17 March 1909

Rev. S. Buchanan, Presbyterian Minister

No	24
Date of Notice	17 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Hathaway	Violet Emily Cochrane
BDM Match (91%)	John William Hathaway	Violet May Cochrane
	💍 1909/208
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	23 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	23 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Rev. S. Buchanan, Brown Street, Timaru
Folio	09/69
Consent	Peter Cochrane, father
Date of Certificate	17 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Buchanan, Presbyterian Minister

25 March 1909

Charles Marshall Fyfe
Elsie Grace Montgomery

Charles Marshall Fyfe
Alice Cairns Montgomery
💍 1909/6737

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist
Typiste

25 years
23 years

Timaru
Timaru

6 days
17 years

Registrar's Office, Timaru

09/1507

25 March 1909

Alex. Montgomery, Registrar

No	25
Date of Notice	25 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Marshall Fyfe	Elsie Grace Montgomery
BDM Match (80%)	Charles Marshall Fyfe	Alice Cairns Montgomery
	💍 1909/6737
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist	Typiste
Age	25 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	6 days	17 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Timaru
Folio	09/1507
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Alex. Montgomery, Registrar

26 March 1909

Frederick Leonard Goodmanson
Isabella Russell

Frederick Seguard Goodmanson
Isabella Russell
💍 1909/6735

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

25 years
21 years

Timaru
Timaru

5 months
6 months

Registrar's Office, Timaru

09/1506

26 March 1909

Alex. Montgomery, Registrar

No	26
Date of Notice	26 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Leonard Goodmanson	Isabella Russell
BDM Match (95%)	Frederick Seguard Goodmanson	Isabella Russell
	💍 1909/6735
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	25 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	5 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Timaru
Folio	09/1506
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Alex. Montgomery, Registrar

29 March 1909

David Chisholm
Elizabeth Catherine Heddie

David Chisholm
Elizabeth Catherine Keddie
💍 1909/6641

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household duties

32 years
27 years

Timaru
Timaru

10 months
6 years

Dwellinghouse of Peter Heddie, Trafalgar St., Temuka

09/310

29 March 1909

Rev. Thos. Stinson, Presbyterian Minister

No	27
Date of Notice	29 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Chisholm	Elizabeth Catherine Heddie
BDM Match (98%)	David Chisholm	Elizabeth Catherine Keddie
	💍 1909/6641
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household duties
Age	32 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	10 months	6 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Peter Heddie, Trafalgar St., Temuka
Folio	09/310
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Stinson, Presbyterian Minister

30 March 1909

Tremayne Monroe Burnow
Jessie Fowler Gambling

Tremeyne Moore Curnow
Jessie Parker Gambling
💍 1909/2525

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk in Holy Orders
Domestic duties

28 years
28 years

Timaru
Invercargill

4 years
11 years

St. John's English Church, Invercargill

09/560

30 March 1909

Archdeacon St. Stocker, Church of England Clergyman

No	28
Date of Notice	30 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tremayne Monroe Burnow	Jessie Fowler Gambling
BDM Match (82%)	Tremeyne Moore Curnow	Jessie Parker Gambling
	💍 1909/2525
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk in Holy Orders	Domestic duties
Age	28 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St. John's English Church, Invercargill
Folio	09/560
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon St. Stocker, Church of England Clergyman

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).