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 578

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1910 Registrar John Gaunson Petrie

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

24 March 1910

William Burgess Atwood
Lily Turner (previously married) commonly known as Soles

Bachelor

Farm Labourer
Domestic

41
29

Esk Street, Invercargill
Ellerbeck Street, Invercargill

4 days
7 years

English Church, Dee Street

10/1778

24 March 1910

Rev. Archdeacon Stocker

No	49
Date of Notice	24 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Burgess Atwood	Lily Turner (previously married) commonly known as Soles
Condition	Bachelor
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic
Age	41	29
Dwelling Place	Esk Street, Invercargill	Ellerbeck Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 days	7 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Dee Street
Folio	10/1778
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon Stocker

24 March 1910

Robert Marshall
Alice Elizabeth Holton

Robert Marshall
Alice Elizabeth Horton
💍 1910/2080

Walter Marshall
Ivy Elizabeth Wilkins
💍 1910/2785

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

20
20

South Ford Street, Invercargill
Grove Bush, Invercargill

1 year
20 years

Residence of Henrietta Holton, Grove Bush

10/1780

Henrietta Holton, mother

24 March 1910

Rev. E. Rinett

No	50
Date of Notice	24 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Marshall	Alice Elizabeth Holton
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Marshall	Alice Elizabeth Horton
	💍 1910/2080
BDM Match (61%)	Walter Marshall	Ivy Elizabeth Wilkins
	💍 1910/2785
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	South Ford Street, Invercargill	Grove Bush, Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 year	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Henrietta Holton, Grove Bush
Folio	10/1780
Consent	Henrietta Holton, mother
Date of Certificate	24 March 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Rinett

24 March 1910

Samuel Francis Tring
Mabel Norton Sprott

Samuel Francis Tring Crofts
Mabel Norton
💍 1910/1711

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic

33
28

Lincent Street, Invercargill
Avenal, Invercargill

6 years
4 weeks

Residence of Rev. A. Mitchell, Dee Street

10/1809

24 March 1910

Rev. A. Mitchell

No	51
Date of Notice	24 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Francis Tring	Mabel Norton Sprott
BDM Match (69%)	Samuel Francis Tring Crofts	Mabel Norton
	💍 1910/1711
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Lincent Street, Invercargill	Avenal, Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 years	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. A. Mitchell, Dee Street
Folio	10/1809
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Mitchell

24 March 1910

Clement John Griffith
Catherine Jane Kirean

Clement John Bernard Griffith
Catherine Jane Kirwan
💍 1910/1709

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist
Domestic

30
33

Avenal, Invercargill
East Road, Invercargill

7 months
33 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street

10/1807

24 March 1910

Very Rev. W. Burke

No	52
Date of Notice	24 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clement John Griffith	Catherine Jane Kirean
BDM Match (84%)	Clement John Bernard Griffith	Catherine Jane Kirwan
	💍 1910/1709
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist	Domestic
Age	30	33
Dwelling Place	Avenal, Invercargill	East Road, Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 months	33 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street
Folio	10/1807
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1910
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. W. Burke

29 March 1910

James Small
Annie Sheehan

James Small
Annie Sheehan
💍 1910/1710

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

28
19

Vincent Street, Invercargill
Ann Street, Invercargill

2 years
1 year

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street

10/1808

Edward Sheehan, father

29 March 1910

Very Rev. W. Burke

No	53
Date of Notice	29 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Small	Annie Sheehan
	💍 1910/1710
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Vincent Street, Invercargill	Ann Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street
Folio	10/1808
Consent	Edward Sheehan, father
Date of Certificate	29 March 1910
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. W. Burke

31 March 1910

James McLean
Magdalene Lena Green

James McLean
Magdalene Lind
💍 1910/3283

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School-teacher

33
25

Thornbury, Wallace
Makarewa, Invercargill

33 years
25 years

Presbyterian Church, Riverton

10/3467

31 March 1910

Rev. C. A. Gray

No	54
Date of Notice	31 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McLean	Magdalene Lena Green
BDM Match (80%)	James McLean	Magdalene Lind
	💍 1910/3283
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School-teacher
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Thornbury, Wallace	Makarewa, Invercargill
Length of Residence	33 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Riverton
Folio	10/3467
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Gray

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).