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 271

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 September 1910 Registrar Alexander Montgomery

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

8 August 1910

Hugh Henry Fleming
Catherine Sinclair

Hugh Henry Fleming
Catherine Sinclair
💍 1910/4900

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Master, N.Z. Railways
Domestic Duties

30 years
31 years

Timaru
Timaru

1 week
31 years

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

10/5091

8 August 1910

Rev. A. Macaulay Caldwell, Presbyterian Minister

No	83
Date of Notice	8 August 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Henry Fleming	Catherine Sinclair
	💍 1910/4900
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Master, N.Z. Railways	Domestic Duties
Age	30 years	31 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	1 week	31 years
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	10/5091
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Macaulay Caldwell, Presbyterian Minister

10 August 1910

Frank Charles Martin
Margaret Probyn

Frank Charles Martin
Margaret Prolyn
💍 1910/4903

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28 years
26 years

Otaio
Gleniti

28 years
3 months

Dwellinghouse of T. Probyn, Gleniti

10/5073

10 August 1910

Rev. A. Macaulay Caldwell, Presbyterian Minister

No	84
Date of Notice	10 August 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Charles Martin	Margaret Probyn
BDM Match (97%)	Frank Charles Martin	Margaret Prolyn
	💍 1910/4903
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Otaio	Gleniti
Length of Residence	28 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of T. Probyn, Gleniti
Folio	10/5073
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 August 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Macaulay Caldwell, Presbyterian Minister

12 August 1910

Ernest Brown
Ellen O'Brien

Ernest Brown
Ellen OBrien
💍 1910/4854

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Tailoress

32 years
29 years

Timaru
Timaru

4 years
29 years

Roman Catholic Schoolhouse, Timaru

10/5043

12 August 1910

Rev. J. Tubman, Roman Catholic Priest

No	85
Date of Notice	12 August 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Brown	Ellen O'Brien
BDM Match (96%)	Ernest Brown	Ellen OBrien
	💍 1910/4854
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Tailoress
Age	32 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Schoolhouse, Timaru
Folio	10/5043
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Tubman, Roman Catholic Priest

15 August 1910

William Herbert Jones
Violet Olive May

William Ethelbert Jones
Violet Olive May Bracefield
💍 1910/4902

William Henry Jones
Emily Violet Lindsay
💍 1910/5624

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Tailoress

23 years
19 years

Timaru
Timaru

6 years
7 years

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

10/5072

Jane Bracefield (Mother)

15 August 1910

Rev. A. Macaulay Caldwell, Presbyterian Minister

No	86
Date of Notice	15 August 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Herbert Jones	Violet Olive May
BDM Match (71%)	William Ethelbert Jones	Violet Olive May Bracefield
	💍 1910/4902
BDM Match (61%)	William Henry Jones	Emily Violet Lindsay
	💍 1910/5624
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Tailoress
Age	23 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	6 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	10/5072
Consent	Jane Bracefield (Mother)
Date of Certificate	15 August 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Macaulay Caldwell, Presbyterian Minister

17 August 1910

William Frederick Cordes
Georgina Clark Saunders

William Fredrick Coules
Georgina Clark Saunders
💍 1910/4904

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

26 years
24 years

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
1 week

Residence of Mrs. Benton, Latter St., Timaru

10/5074

17 August 1910

Rev. A. Macaulay Caldwell, Presbyterian Minister

No	87
Date of Notice	17 August 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Frederick Cordes	Georgina Clark Saunders
BDM Match (94%)	William Fredrick Coules	Georgina Clark Saunders
	💍 1910/4904
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	26 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	1 week
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Benton, Latter St., Timaru
Folio	10/5074
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 August 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Macaulay Caldwell, Presbyterian Minister

19 August 1910

John Oliver Manaton
Hannah Cecilia Butler

John Oliver Manaton
Hannah Cecilia Butler
💍 1910/4855

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26 years
25 years

Fairlie
Timaru

3 years
1 week

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

10/5044

19 August 1910

Rev. J. Tubman, Roman Catholic Priest

No	88
Date of Notice	19 August 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Oliver Manaton	Hannah Cecilia Butler
	💍 1910/4855
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Fairlie	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 years	1 week
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	10/5044
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Tubman, Roman Catholic Priest

22 August 1910

Kenneth Ingram Tayler
Ruth Jane Graham

Kenneth Ingram Tayler
Ruth Jane Graham
💍 1910/4905

Bachelor
Spinster

Woolclasser
Domestic Duties

35 years
31 years

Timaru
Timaru

5 years
6 years

Residence of Mr. H. Graham, Harper St., Timaru

10/5075

22 August 1910

Rev. A. Macaulay Caldwell, Presbyterian Minister

No	89
Date of Notice	22 August 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Ingram Tayler	Ruth Jane Graham
	💍 1910/4905
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woolclasser	Domestic Duties
Age	35 years	31 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	5 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. H. Graham, Harper St., Timaru
Folio	10/5075
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 August 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Macaulay Caldwell, Presbyterian Minister

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).