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 216

District of Pleasant Point Quarter ending 31 March 1910 Registrar J. Lowry

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

3 January 1910

Michael Barry
Elizabeth Deacon

Michael Barry
Elizabeth Tachey
💍 1910/1554

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

29
25

Mawaro
Sutherland

6 years
6 years

Roman Catholic Church

10/1541

Father R. Hoch, Roman Catholic

3 January 1910

Father R. Hoch

No	34
Date of Notice	3 January 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Barry	Elizabeth Deacon
BDM Match (84%)	Michael Barry	Elizabeth Tachey
	💍 1910/1554
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Mawaro	Sutherland
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	10/1541
Consent	Father R. Hoch, Roman Catholic
Date of Certificate	3 January 1910
Officiating Minister	Father R. Hoch

17 January 1910

Graham Goodenough
Edith Michelle Hefford

Graham Goodenough Hayter
Edith Melville Clifford
💍 1910/1570

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

28
22

Albury
Albury

6 years
3 days

Private Residence of Mrs. E. R. Day, Burkes Pass

10/1543

Mrs. E. R. Day, her mother

17 January 1910

Rev. S. Johnson

No	35
Date of Notice	17 January 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Graham Goodenough	Edith Michelle Hefford
BDM Match (70%)	Graham Goodenough Hayter	Edith Melville Clifford
	💍 1910/1570
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Albury	Albury
Length of Residence	6 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Private Residence of Mrs. E. R. Day, Burkes Pass
Folio	10/1543
Consent	Mrs. E. R. Day, her mother
Date of Certificate	17 January 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Johnson

5 March 1910

Michael Francis James
Mary Sarah Elizabeth Jenson

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

28
32

Pleasant Point
Pleasant Point

28 years
3 days

Private Residence of Mrs. Jenson, Opawa

10/3352

Mrs. Jenson, mother of bride

5 March 1910

Rev. J. King

No	36
Date of Notice	5 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Francis James	Mary Sarah Elizabeth Jenson
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	28	32
Dwelling Place	Pleasant Point	Pleasant Point
Length of Residence	28 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Private Residence of Mrs. Jenson, Opawa
Folio	10/3352
Consent	Mrs. Jenson, mother of bride
Date of Certificate	5 March 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. King

15 March 1910

James Alexander Pringle
Mary Corison Bellard

James Alexander Pringle
Mary Cochrane Cleland
💍 1910/3193

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

31
33

Pleasant Point
Pleasant Point

3 days
33 years

Private Residence of Mrs. Bellard

10/3354

Mrs. Bellard, mother of bride

15 March 1910

Rev. J. King

No	37
Date of Notice	15 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alexander Pringle	Mary Corison Bellard
BDM Match (79%)	James Alexander Pringle	Mary Cochrane Cleland
	💍 1910/3193
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Pleasant Point	Pleasant Point
Length of Residence	3 days	33 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of Mrs. Bellard
Folio	10/3354
Consent	Mrs. Bellard, mother of bride
Date of Certificate	15 March 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. King

27 March 1910

John Bennett Shaw
Florence Adeline Hay

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

29
31

Pleasant Point
Pleasant Point

4 years
20 years

Residence of Mrs. Hay

10/3353

Mrs. Hay, mother of bride

27 March 1910

Rev. J. King

No	38
Date of Notice	27 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bennett Shaw	Florence Adeline Hay
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Pleasant Point	Pleasant Point
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Hay
Folio	10/3353
Consent	Mrs. Hay, mother of bride
Date of Certificate	27 March 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. King

29 March 1910

James Goulter
Harriet Jane Preston

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

30
20

Timaru
Pleasant Point

4 years
20 years

St. Peter's Church, Timaru

10/1540

Mrs. Preston, mother of bride

29 March 1910

Rev. A. Harper

No	39
Date of Notice	29 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Goulter	Harriet Jane Preston
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Pleasant Point
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Timaru
Folio	10/1540
Consent	Mrs. Preston, mother of bride
Date of Certificate	29 March 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Harper

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).