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 590

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 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

100

6 July 1900

Robert Rodger Harvey
Elizabeth Morton

Robert Rodger Harvey
Elizabeth Morton
💍 1910/5116

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

21
23

Esk St, Invercargill
Esk St, Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Residence, Presbyterian

10/530

6 July 1900

Rev. A. Gray

No	100
Date of Notice	6 July 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Rodger Harvey	Elizabeth Morton
	💍 1910/5116
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Esk St, Invercargill	Esk St, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence, Presbyterian
Folio	10/530
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Gray

111

8 July 1900

Charles Stewart Shanks
Agnes Little

Charles Stewart Shanks
Agnes Little
💍 1910/8159

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

24
20

Esk St, Invercargill
Esk St, Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

10/5201

8 July 1900

Registrar

No	111
Date of Notice	8 July 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Stewart Shanks	Agnes Little
	💍 1910/8159
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Esk St, Invercargill	Esk St, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	10/5201
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1900
Officiating Minister	Registrar

112

9 July 1900

James Walker
Ethel May Thorne

James Walker
Ethel Mary Horne
💍 1910/4953

James Walker
Margaret Hall Bailey
💍 1910/2197

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist
Domestic

26
20

Morton Mains, Invercargill
Morton Mains, Invercargill

2 years
5 years

Residence of Alfred Thorne

10/5203

9 July 1900

Rev. E. Bennett

No	112
Date of Notice	9 July 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Walker	Ethel May Thorne
BDM Match (91%)	James Walker	Ethel Mary Horne
	💍 1910/4953
BDM Match (60%)	James Walker	Margaret Hall Bailey
	💍 1910/2197
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist	Domestic
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Morton Mains, Invercargill	Morton Mains, Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Alfred Thorne
Folio	10/5203
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Bennett

113

9 July 1900

Walter Macfarlane
Margaret Elizabeth Stobie

Walter Macfarlane
Margaret Elizabeth Stokes
💍 1910/4954

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

23
23

Kenahi, Invercargill
Dacre, Invercargill

15 years
23 years

Residence of Joseph Stobie

10/5204

9 July 1900

Rev. E. Bennett

No	113
Date of Notice	9 July 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Macfarlane	Margaret Elizabeth Stobie
BDM Match (94%)	Walter Macfarlane	Margaret Elizabeth Stokes
	💍 1910/4954
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Kenahi, Invercargill	Dacre, Invercargill
Length of Residence	15 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Joseph Stobie
Folio	10/5204
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Bennett

114

11 July 1900

Martin Laurence Brown
Catherine Cecilia O'Halloran

Martin Laurence Crowe
Catherine Cecilia OHalloran
💍 1910/5014

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24
24

Teviot St, Invercargill
Teviot St, Invercargill

3 years
3 years

Roman Catholic Church, Teviot St

10/5207

11 July 1900

Very Rev. W. Burke

No	114
Date of Notice	11 July 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Laurence Brown	Catherine Cecilia O'Halloran
BDM Match (93%)	Martin Laurence Crowe	Catherine Cecilia OHalloran
	💍 1910/5014
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Teviot St, Invercargill	Teviot St, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Teviot St
Folio	10/5207
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1900
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. W. Burke

115

12 July 1900

Matthew Mark Leahy
Edith Caroline Allen

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Dressmaker

22
26

Invercargill
Tay St, Invercargill

25 years
6 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tay St

10/5208

12 July 1900

Very Rev. W. Burke

No	115
Date of Notice	12 July 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Mark Leahy	Edith Caroline Allen
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Dressmaker
Age	22	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Tay St, Invercargill
Length of Residence	25 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tay St
Folio	10/5208
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1900
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. W. Burke

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).