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 416

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 June 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

219

2 May 1910

Robert Nicholson
Cassandra Hannah Walker

Robert Nicholson
Cassandra Hannah Walker
💍 1910/2902

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial traveller

32 years
23 years

Dunedin
Westport

14 years
4 years

In the house of Mr Thomas Walker, Derley Street, Westport

10/2969

2 May 1910

J. R. Dart

No	219
Date of Notice	2 May 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Nicholson	Cassandra Hannah Walker
	💍 1910/2902
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial traveller
Age	32 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Westport
Length of Residence	14 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr Thomas Walker, Derley Street, Westport
Folio	10/2969
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1910
Officiating Minister	J. R. Dart

220

2 May 1910

Archibald John Muirhead
Ada Marion Turner

Archibald John Muirhead
Ada Marion Turner
💍 1910/3421

Bachelor
Spinster

Lifter

25 years
26 years

Caversham
Dunedin

25 years
5 years

In the house of the Rev. E. K. Smith, Dundas Street, Dunedin

10/3591

2 May 1910

E. K. Smith

No	220
Date of Notice	2 May 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald John Muirhead	Ada Marion Turner
	💍 1910/3421
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lifter
Age	25 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Dunedin
Length of Residence	25 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. E. K. Smith, Dundas Street, Dunedin
Folio	10/3591
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1910
Officiating Minister	E. K. Smith

221

3 May 1910

Thomas Ernest Woodward
Constance Muriel Stretch

Thomas Ernest Woodward
Constance Muriel Stretch
💍 1910/3489

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

36 years
28 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

18 months
3 days

St. Pauls Cathedral, Dunedin

10/3659

3 May 1910

H. G. Gould

No	221
Date of Notice	3 May 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Ernest Woodward	Constance Muriel Stretch
	💍 1910/3489
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	36 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	18 months	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	10/3659
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1910
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gould

222

4 May 1910

James Gray
Johanna Finn

James Gray
Johanna Finn
💍 1910/3346

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

35 years
30 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 days
10 days

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

10/3508

4 May 1910

H. Maxwell

No	222
Date of Notice	4 May 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gray	Johanna Finn
	💍 1910/3346
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	35 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	10 days
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	10/3508
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1910
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

223

5 May 1910

Frederick Osborne Bentley
Joan Tait

Frederick Osborne Bentley
Joan Tait
💍 1910/3287

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

25 years
28 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 week
1 week

In St. Knox Church Vestry, Dunedin

10/3448

5 May 1910

R. E. Davies

No	223
Date of Notice	5 May 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Osborne Bentley	Joan Tait
	💍 1910/3287
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	25 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	In St. Knox Church Vestry, Dunedin
Folio	10/3448
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1910
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies

224

5 May 1910

Harold James Campbell Mehaffey
Veronica Elizabeth Turnbull

Harold James Campbell McHaffey
Veronica Elizabeth Turnbull
💍 1910/3736

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

23 years
19 years

Roslyn
Roslyn

1 year
3 years

In the house of Mr W. F. Turnbull, Leven Street, Roslyn

10/3881

William Fleming Turnbull, father

5 May 1910

In Watt

No	224
Date of Notice	5 May 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold James Campbell Mehaffey	Veronica Elizabeth Turnbull
BDM Match (97%)	Harold James Campbell McHaffey	Veronica Elizabeth Turnbull
	💍 1910/3736
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	23 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Roslyn
Length of Residence	1 year	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr W. F. Turnbull, Leven Street, Roslyn
Folio	10/3881
Consent	William Fleming Turnbull, father
Date of Certificate	5 May 1910
Officiating Minister	In Watt

225

7 May 1910

Robert Cook
Ann Law Fairley

Robert Cook
Ann Law Fairley
💍 1910/3374

Widower
Spinster

Machinist
Weaver

32 years
29 years

Mornington
Mornington

32 years
3 years

In the Waratah Tea Rooms, 49 George Street, Dunedin

10/3560

7 May 1910

Wm. Slade

No	225
Date of Notice	7 May 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Cook	Ann Law Fairley
	💍 1910/3374
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Machinist	Weaver
Age	32 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Mornington
Length of Residence	32 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the Waratah Tea Rooms, 49 George Street, Dunedin
Folio	10/3560
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 May 1910
Officiating Minister	Wm. Slade

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).