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 019

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 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

491

9 July 1910

Joseph Bell
Evangeline Alice Timms

Joseph Bell
Evangeline Alice Timms
💍 1910/4759

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
domestic duties

27
24

Ashton
Wheatston

3 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Flemington

10/4928

9 July 1910

Rev Ja Brown

No	491
Date of Notice	9 July 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Bell	Evangeline Alice Timms
	💍 1910/4759
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	domestic duties
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Ashton	Wheatston
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Flemington
Folio	10/4928
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev Ja Brown

492

18 July 1910

Walter Harold Clayton
Isabelle Collier

Walter Harold Clayton
Isabella Jane Collier
💍 1910/4715

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger
domestic duties

24
39

Ashburton
Ashburton

4 years
3 days

Barring Neeks Square Church

10/4883

18 July 1910

Rev H. E. Bellhouse

No	492
Date of Notice	18 July 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Harold Clayton	Isabelle Collier
BDM Match (88%)	Walter Harold Clayton	Isabella Jane Collier
	💍 1910/4715
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger	domestic duties
Age	24	39
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Barring Neeks Square Church
Folio	10/4883
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev H. E. Bellhouse

493

19 July 1910

Thomas Mulligan
Muriel Agnes Bell

Thomas Milligan
Muriel Agnes Ball
💍 1910/5540

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

29
29

Barford
Lismore

5 years
2 years

St Stephens Church of England

10/5847

19 July 1910

Rev E. Whitehouse

No	493
Date of Notice	19 July 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Mulligan	Muriel Agnes Bell
BDM Match (94%)	Thomas Milligan	Muriel Agnes Ball
	💍 1910/5540
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Barford	Lismore
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England
Folio	10/5847
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev E. Whitehouse

494

23 July 1910

Arthur Edward Hewson
May Cameron Whennan

Arthur Edward Hewson
Mary Cameron McLennan
💍 1910/4704

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom
domestic duties

23
22

Ashburton
Ashburton

23 years
22 years

Office of the Registrar

10/4949

23 July 1910

W. W. White, Registrar

No	494
Date of Notice	23 July 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edward Hewson	May Cameron Whennan
BDM Match (91%)	Arthur Edward Hewson	Mary Cameron McLennan
	💍 1910/4704
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom	domestic duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	23 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar
Folio	10/4949
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1910
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

495

26 July 1910

Edward Christopher Williams
Alice Gluyas

Edward Christopher Williams
Alice Gluyas
💍 1910/4705

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman
domestic duties

40
43

Longbeach
Longbeach

5 years
6 years

Office of the Registrar

10/4950

26 July 1910

W. W. White, Registrar

No	495
Date of Notice	26 July 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Christopher Williams	Alice Gluyas
	💍 1910/4705
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman	domestic duties
Age	40	43
Dwelling Place	Longbeach	Longbeach
Length of Residence	5 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar
Folio	10/4950
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1910
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).