Intentions to Marry, 1910 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840444, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1910 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1910a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1910b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1910c).

Page 009

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1910 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

443

4 January 1910

Harry Porter
Agnes Georgina Tutty

Harry Porter
Agnes Georgina Tutty
💍 1910/1216

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic duties

32
22

Ashburton
Ashburton

30 years
22 years

St Stephens Church of England

10/1293

4 January 1910

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	443
Date of Notice	4 January 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Porter	Agnes Georgina Tutty
	💍 1910/1216
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic duties
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	30 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England
Folio	10/1293
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

444

8 January 1910

John Edward Bryant
Violet May Johnson

John Edward Bryant
Violet May Johnson
💍 1910/6069

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

28
24

Allenton
Hampstead

28 years
24 years

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

10/6168

8 January 1910

Very Rev. J. J. O'Donnell

No	444
Date of Notice	8 January 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edward Bryant	Violet May Johnson
	💍 1910/6069
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Hampstead
Length of Residence	28 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	10/6168
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1910
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. J. J. O'Donnell

445

10 January 1910

John Henry Smith
Honoria Fitzgerald

John Henry Smith
Honoria Fitzgerald
💍 1910/6070

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic duties

31
25

Westerfield
Hampstead

31 years
25 years

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

10/6169

10 January 1910

Dean O'Donnell

No	445
Date of Notice	10 January 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Smith	Honoria Fitzgerald
	💍 1910/6070
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Westerfield	Hampstead
Length of Residence	31 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	10/6169
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1910
Officiating Minister	Dean O'Donnell

446

14 January 1910

Donald Herbert Doak
Elizabeth Mary Grace

Donald Herbert Doak
Elizabeth Mary Grace
💍 1910/1213

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

21
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

14 days
14 days

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

10/1290

14 January 1910

W. W. White, Registrar

No	446
Date of Notice	14 January 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Herbert Doak	Elizabeth Mary Grace
	💍 1910/1213
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	14 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	10/1290
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1910
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

447

24 January 1910

Newton Calvert Jones
Clara Calvert

Newton Calvert Jones
Clara Calvert
💍 1910/1217

Bachelor
Spinster

Stationer
Music Teacher

32
30

Ashburton
Linwood

31 years
3 days

St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

10/1294

24 January 1910

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	447
Date of Notice	24 January 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Newton Calvert Jones	Clara Calvert
	💍 1910/1217
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stationer	Music Teacher
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Linwood
Length of Residence	31 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	10/1294
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).