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 011

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

453

9 March 1910

William Edgar Lewisham
Esther Ethel Sparrow

William Edgar Lewisham
Esther Ethel Sparrow
💍 1910/1195

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
domestic duties

24
28

Dunedin
Ashburton

3 days
28 years

Baring Square Church

10/1288

9 March 1910

Rev. H. E. Bellhouse

No	453
Date of Notice	9 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edgar Lewisham	Esther Ethel Sparrow
	💍 1910/1195
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	domestic duties
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	Baring Square Church
Folio	10/1288
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Bellhouse

454

11 March 1910

George Bertram Thomas
Susan Gage

George Beckham Thomas
Susan Page
💍 1910/1218

Bachelor
Spinster

Produce dealer
domestic duties

27
22

Ashburton
Allenton

27 years
22 years

St. Stephens Church of England

10/1295

11 March 1910

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	454
Date of Notice	11 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Bertram Thomas	Susan Gage
BDM Match (88%)	George Beckham Thomas	Susan Page
	💍 1910/1218
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Produce dealer	domestic duties
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Allenton
Length of Residence	27 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church of England
Folio	10/1295
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

455

15 March 1910

Joseph Henry Garret Boy
Florence Louisa Rew

Joseph Henry Garret Box
Florence Louisa Rew
💍 1910/8123

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
clerk

30
25

Ashburton
Christchurch

16 months
25 years

St. Michaels Church of England

10/1408

15 March 1910

Rev. C. A. Fraser

No	455
Date of Notice	15 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Henry Garret Boy	Florence Louisa Rew
BDM Match (98%)	Joseph Henry Garret Box	Florence Louisa Rew
	💍 1910/8123
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	clerk
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	16 months	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Michaels Church of England
Folio	10/1408
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Fraser

456

16 March 1910

William Sanders
May Evelyn Boughton

William Sanders
May Evelyn Boughton
💍 1910/1206

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

33
23

Waimarino
Ealing

3 days
12 months

at the dwelling of H. E. Bellhouse, Havelock St.

10/1289

16 March 1910

Rev. H. E. Bellhouse

No	456
Date of Notice	16 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Sanders	May Evelyn Boughton
	💍 1910/1206
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Waimarino	Ealing
Length of Residence	3 days	12 months
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of H. E. Bellhouse, Havelock St.
Folio	10/1289
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Bellhouse

459

16 March 1910

James Peter Christensen
Jessie Turner

James Peter Christansen
Jessie Turner
💍 1910/1215

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

38
32

Allenton
Ashburton

10 years
9 months

at the dwelling of W. E. Lambert, Cameron St.

10/1292

16 March 1910

Rev. W. E. Lambert

No	459
Date of Notice	16 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Peter Christensen	Jessie Turner
BDM Match (98%)	James Peter Christansen	Jessie Turner
	💍 1910/1215
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	38	32
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	10 years	9 months
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of W. E. Lambert, Cameron St.
Folio	10/1292
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Lambert

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).