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 021

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

501

26 August 1910

Richard Charles Barney
Margaret Fanny Stephen

Richard Charles Carney
Margaret Fanny Stephen
💍 1910/4706

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic duties

52
18

Springburn
Springburn

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

10/4951

James Stephen, father of minor

26 August 1910

W. W. White, Registrar

No	501
Date of Notice	26 August 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Charles Barney	Margaret Fanny Stephen
BDM Match (98%)	Richard Charles Carney	Margaret Fanny Stephen
	💍 1910/4706
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic duties
Age	52	18
Dwelling Place	Springburn	Springburn
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	10/4951
Consent	James Stephen, father of minor
Date of Certificate	26 August 1910
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

502

29 August 1910

Cornelius Bishop
Catherine Elizabeth Ryan

Cornelius Bishop
Cathrine Elizabeth Ryan
💍 1910/5901

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

39
23

Wheatston
Winslow

30 years
23 years

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

10/6198

29 August 1910

Dean O'Donnell

No	502
Date of Notice	29 August 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cornelius Bishop	Catherine Elizabeth Ryan
BDM Match (98%)	Cornelius Bishop	Cathrine Elizabeth Ryan
	💍 1910/5901
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	39	23
Dwelling Place	Wheatston	Winslow
Length of Residence	30 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	10/6198
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 August 1910
Officiating Minister	Dean O'Donnell

503

1 September 1910

Frederick Oscar Greenaway
Anne Lauder Smith Dodds

Frederick Oscar Greenaway
Annie Lander Smith Dodds
💍 1910/4707

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

23
25

Rakaia
Rakaia

3 years
9 months

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

10/4952

1 September 1910

W. W. White, Registrar

No	503
Date of Notice	1 September 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Oscar Greenaway	Anne Lauder Smith Dodds
BDM Match (96%)	Frederick Oscar Greenaway	Annie Lander Smith Dodds
	💍 1910/4707
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Rakaia	Rakaia
Length of Residence	3 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	10/4952
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1910
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

504

1 September 1910

Henry Dalley
Mary Fitzharris

Henry Dalley
Mary Fitzharris
💍 1910/5343

Widower
Spinster

Carrier
House-keeper

76
39

Hampstead
Hampstead

32 years
8 weeks

At the dwelling of Henry Dalley, Hampstead

10/5613

1 September 1910

Rev. R. I. Hedded

No	504
Date of Notice	1 September 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Dalley	Mary Fitzharris
	💍 1910/5343
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	House-keeper
Age	76	39
Dwelling Place	Hampstead	Hampstead
Length of Residence	32 years	8 weeks
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of Henry Dalley, Hampstead
Folio	10/5613
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. I. Hedded

505

3 September 1910

Frederick Womacott
Edith Mabel Messervy

Frederick Wonnacott
Edith Mabel Messervy
💍 1910/4708

Bachelor
Divorced

Labourer
Domestic duties

29
39

Ashburton
Ashburton

10 years
4 years

At the Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

10/4953

3 September 1910

W. W. White, Registrar

No	505
Date of Notice	3 September 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Womacott	Edith Mabel Messervy
BDM Match (95%)	Frederick Wonnacott	Edith Mabel Messervy
	💍 1910/4708
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	29	39
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	10 years	4 years
Marriage Place	At the Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	10/4953
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 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).