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 026

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1909 Registrar William Winsbury White

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

425

30 October 1909

William Henry Stoddart
Alice White

William Henry Stoddart
Alice White
💍 1909/5556

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

34
23

Willowby
Flemington

24 years
23 years

Church of England, Waterton

09/7154

30 October 1909

Rev. B. G. Fope

No	425
Date of Notice	30 October 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Stoddart	Alice White
	💍 1909/5556
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Willowby	Flemington
Length of Residence	24 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Waterton
Folio	09/7154
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. G. Fope

426

4 November 1909

Henry Edward William Hortin
Charlotte Lusk

Henry Edward William Hortin
Charlotte Lusk
💍 1909/5740

Bachelor
Widow

Shepherd
House-keeper

25
30

Tinwald
Ashburton

12 months
30 years

Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

09/7144

4 November 1909

Rev. J. B. Inglis

No	426
Date of Notice	4 November 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Edward William Hortin	Charlotte Lusk
	💍 1909/5740
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Shepherd	House-keeper
Age	25	30
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Ashburton
Length of Residence	12 months	30 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	09/7144
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Inglis

427

4 November 1909

Thomas Francis Hooper
Margaret Book

Thomas Francis Hooper
Margaret Cook
💍 1909/5742

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman
domestic duties

34
26

Temuka
Temuka

24 months
6 weeks

at the Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

09/7146

4 November 1909

W. W. White, Registrar

No	427
Date of Notice	4 November 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Francis Hooper	Margaret Book
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas Francis Hooper	Margaret Cook
	💍 1909/5742
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman	domestic duties
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	24 months	6 weeks
Marriage Place	at the Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	09/7146
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1909
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

428

6 November 1909

Thomas Saunders Welch
Annie Lizza English

Thomas Saunders Welch
Annie Lizza English
💍 1909/5743

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

32
31

Ashburton
Trevorton

28 years
30 years

at the Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

09/7147

6 November 1909

W. W. White, Registrar

No	428
Date of Notice	6 November 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Saunders Welch	Annie Lizza English
	💍 1909/5743
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Trevorton
Length of Residence	28 years	30 years
Marriage Place	at the Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	09/7147
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1909
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

429

8 November 1909

William George Paull Hoatson
Ellen Elizabeth Serth

William George Paull Hoatten
Ellen Elizabeth Serth
💍 1909/5744

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
domestic duties

37
30

Folgin
Fairton

32 years
5 years

at the Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

09/7148

8 November 1909

W. W. White, Registrar

No	429
Date of Notice	8 November 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Paull Hoatson	Ellen Elizabeth Serth
BDM Match (96%)	William George Paull Hoatten	Ellen Elizabeth Serth
	💍 1909/5744
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	37	30
Dwelling Place	Folgin	Fairton
Length of Residence	32 years	5 years
Marriage Place	at the Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	09/7148
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1909
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

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).