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 404

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1910 Registrar Henry Maxwell

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

141

23 March 1910

David Sheddan
Minnie McLellan Grant

David Sheddan
Minnie McLellan Grant
💍 1910/1633

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

48
31

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In Knox Church, Dunedin

10/1696

23 March 1910

R. E. Davies

No	141
Date of Notice	23 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Sheddan	Minnie McLellan Grant
	💍 1910/1633
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	48	31
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In Knox Church, Dunedin
Folio	10/1696
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1910
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies

142

23 March 1910

Robert Nichol Elliott
Christina McCulloch

Robert Nichol Elliott
Christina McCulloch
💍 1910/1998

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep farmer

23
31

West Harbour
West Harbour

3 days
1 month

At the residence of Mr. Neil McCulloch, Ravensbourne, West Harbour

10/1723

23 March 1910

G. Heighway

No	142
Date of Notice	23 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Nichol Elliott	Christina McCulloch
	💍 1910/1998
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep farmer
Age	23	31
Dwelling Place	West Harbour	West Harbour
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr. Neil McCulloch, Ravensbourne, West Harbour
Folio	10/1723
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1910
Officiating Minister	G. Heighway

143

23 March 1910

James Duffy
Mary Josephine Luigehan

James Duffy
Mary Josephine Lingeham
💍 1910/8029

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
21 years

In St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin

10/1691

23 March 1910

Jas. Coffey

No	143
Date of Notice	23 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Duffy	Mary Josephine Luigehan
BDM Match (94%)	James Duffy	Mary Josephine Lingeham
	💍 1910/8029
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	10/1691
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1910
Officiating Minister	Jas. Coffey

144

23 March 1910

Charles Alexander McDonald
Christina Ferguson

Charles Alexander McDonald
Christina Ferguson
💍 1910/1899

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the house of Miss Christina Bower, 49 George Street, Dunedin

10/1942

23 March 1910

R. Fairmaid

No	144
Date of Notice	23 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Alexander McDonald	Christina Ferguson
	💍 1910/1899
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Miss Christina Bower, 49 George Street, Dunedin
Folio	10/1942
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1910
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

145

23 March 1910

Robert Allan Jamieson Dickison
Jessie Georgina Dickison

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

48
43

Dunedin
Anderson's Bay

3 days
16 years

In the house of Mr. A. L. M. Dickison, Anderson's Bay

10/1949

23 March 1910

A. Cameron

No	145
Date of Notice	23 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Allan Jamieson Dickison	Jessie Georgina Dickison
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	48	43
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Anderson's Bay
Length of Residence	3 days	16 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. A. L. M. Dickison, Anderson's Bay
Folio	10/1949
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1910
Officiating Minister	A. Cameron

146

23 March 1910

John Ross
Elizabeth Brydone

John Ross
Elizabeth Brydone
💍 1910/1910

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

36
33

Dunedin
Roslyn

3 days
12 months

In the First Church, Dunedin

10/1952

23 March 1910

J. N. Watt

No	146
Date of Notice	23 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ross	Elizabeth Brydone
	💍 1910/1910
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	36	33
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Roslyn
Length of Residence	3 days	12 months
Marriage Place	In the First Church, Dunedin
Folio	10/1952
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1910
Officiating Minister	J. N. Watt

147

23 March 1910

Herbert Ernest Smith
Susanna Clements

Herbert Ernest Smith
Susanna Clements
💍 1910/8259

Widower
Spinster

Commercial traveller

38
26

Dunedin
North East Valley

5 years
12 months

In the house of Mrs. M. Clements, 16 Crown Street, North East Valley

10/1692

23 March 1910

J. J. O'Reilly

No	147
Date of Notice	23 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Ernest Smith	Susanna Clements
	💍 1910/8259
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Commercial traveller
Age	38	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	North East Valley
Length of Residence	5 years	12 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs. M. Clements, 16 Crown Street, North East Valley
Folio	10/1692
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1910
Officiating Minister	J. J. O'Reilly

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).