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 134

District of Ellesmere Quarter ending 31 December 1910 Registrar James Edward Carter

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

20 October 1910

George Nathaniel Alexander
Louisa Sabina Alexander

George Nathaniel Cant
Louisa Sabina Alexander
💍 1910/8023

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
24

Little River
Lakeside

1 day
2 years

In the house of William James Alexander, Lakeside

10/7413

20 October 1910

Rev. R. H. Jackson

No	1
Date of Notice	20 October 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Nathaniel Alexander	Louisa Sabina Alexander
BDM Match (87%)	George Nathaniel Cant	Louisa Sabina Alexander
	💍 1910/8023
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Little River	Lakeside
Length of Residence	1 day	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of William James Alexander, Lakeside
Folio	10/7413
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Jackson

1 December 1910

Septimus William Warner
Rose Mary Galpin

Septimus William Worner
Rose Mary Galpin
💍 1910/7421

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
25

Southbridge
Southbridge

24 years
25 years

Anglican Church, Southbridge

10/7798

1 December 1910

Rev. H. G. Hawkins

No	2
Date of Notice	1 December 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Septimus William Warner	Rose Mary Galpin
BDM Match (98%)	Septimus William Worner	Rose Mary Galpin
	💍 1910/7421
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Southbridge	Southbridge
Length of Residence	24 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Southbridge
Folio	10/7798
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Hawkins

14 December 1910

John Duncan King
Isabella Maud Abbott

John Duncan King
Isabella Maude Abbott
💍 1910/8022

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

31
32

Timaru
Southbridge

31 years
32 years

Residence of Mrs. Isabella Abbott, Little Rakaia

10/7412

14 December 1910

Rev. R. H. Jackson

No	3
Date of Notice	14 December 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Duncan King	Isabella Maud Abbott
BDM Match (98%)	John Duncan King	Isabella Maude Abbott
	💍 1910/8022
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Southbridge
Length of Residence	31 years	32 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Isabella Abbott, Little Rakaia
Folio	10/7412
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Jackson

28 December 1910

Robert Smith
Jemima Harper

Robert Smith
Jemima Harper
💍 1910/7419

Bachelor
Spinster

Striker
Domestic Duties

34
29

Addington
Leeston

12 years
29 years

Anglican Church, Christchurch

10/7796

28 December 1910

Rev. J. R. Herrold

No	4
Date of Notice	28 December 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Smith	Jemima Harper
	💍 1910/7419
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Striker	Domestic Duties
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Addington	Leeston
Length of Residence	12 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Christchurch
Folio	10/7796
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 December 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Herrold

28 December 1910

William Henry Wise
Violet Mary Sheat

William Henry Wise
Violet Mary Sheat
💍 1910/7420

Bachelor
Spinster

Home missionary
Domestic Duties

37
27

Christchurch
Dunsandel

37 years
27 years

Public Hall, Dunsandel

10/7797

28 December 1910

Rev. J. H. Loughnan

No	5
Date of Notice	28 December 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Wise	Violet Mary Sheat
	💍 1910/7420
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Home missionary	Domestic Duties
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Dunsandel
Length of Residence	37 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Public Hall, Dunsandel
Folio	10/7797
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 December 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Loughnan

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).