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 020

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 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

398

14 July 1909

John Morris
Margaret Annie Fissell

John Morris
Margaret Annie Fussell
💍 1909/3812

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
domestic duties

31
21

Taihape
Ashburton

3 days
10 years

at the dwelling of Joseph Fissell, 10 Peter Street, Ashburton

09/5710

14 July 1909

Rev. W. E. Lambert

No	398
Date of Notice	14 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Morris	Margaret Annie Fissell
BDM Match (98%)	John Morris	Margaret Annie Fussell
	💍 1909/3812
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	domestic duties
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of Joseph Fissell, 10 Peter Street, Ashburton
Folio	09/5710
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Lambert

399

23 July 1909

John Bell McKernan
Clementina Ankernan

John Bell
Clementina McKernan
💍 1909/3813

Bachelor
Divorced

Overseer
Laundress

54
42

Ashburton
Ashburton

10 years
9 years

At the dwelling of Clementina McKernan, 9 Moore Street, Ashburton

09/5111

23 July 1909

Rev. W. E. Lambert

No	399
Date of Notice	23 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bell McKernan	Clementina Ankernan
BDM Match (67%)	John Bell	Clementina McKernan
	💍 1909/3813
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Overseer	Laundress
Age	54	42
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	10 years	9 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of Clementina McKernan, 9 Moore Street, Ashburton
Folio	09/5111
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Lambert

400

24 July 1909

William Hockings
Daisy Amelia Stevens

William Hockings
Daisy Amelia Stevens
💍 1909/3824

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

21
20

Waterton
Ashburton

21 years
20 years

Baring Square Church

see P 405

William Stevens, father of minor

24 July 1909

Rev. H. E. Bellhouse

No	400
Date of Notice	24 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hockings	Daisy Amelia Stevens
	💍 1909/3824
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Waterton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	21 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Baring Square Church
Folio	see P 405
Consent	William Stevens, father of minor
Date of Certificate	24 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Bellhouse

401

26 July 1909

James Burrows
Burnice Good

James Burrows
Bernice Good
💍 1909/5837

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

24
25

Methven
Ashburton

3 days
2 months

St Stephens Church of England

09/7574

26 July 1909

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	401
Date of Notice	26 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Burrows	Burnice Good
BDM Match (96%)	James Burrows	Bernice Good
	💍 1909/5837
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Methven	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England
Folio	09/7574
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

402

29 July 1909

William Mathew Smith
Elizabeth Ellen Taylor

William Mathew Smith
Elizabeth Ellen Taylor
💍 1909/5836

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

34
22

Ashburton
Ashburton

30 years
22 years

St Stephens Church of England

09/7573

29 July 1909

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	402
Date of Notice	29 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Mathew Smith	Elizabeth Ellen Taylor
	💍 1909/5836
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	30 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England
Folio	09/7573
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

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).