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 605

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 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

192

10 December 1910

John Lewis
Christina Bradshaw

John Lewis Thomas Mortimer
Christina Bradshaw
💍 1910/7601

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

26
26

Omakau
Kamahi

3 years
7 months

Residence of Mr. John Bradshaw, Kamahi

10/8007

10 December 1910

Rev. D. M. Leman

No	192
Date of Notice	10 December 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lewis	Christina Bradshaw
BDM Match (69%)	John Lewis Thomas Mortimer	Christina Bradshaw
	💍 1910/7601
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Omakau	Kamahi
Length of Residence	3 years	7 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. John Bradshaw, Kamahi
Folio	10/8007
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. M. Leman

193

12 December 1910

George Lees
Jessie Elizabeth Wright

George Lees
Jessie Elizabeth Wright
💍 1910/7717

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

29
20

Frederick St.
Tisbury

29 years
10 years

Residence of Mr. Jessie Fleming Wright, Tisbury

10/8075

12 December 1910

Mr. Richard Morgan

No	193
Date of Notice	12 December 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Lees	Jessie Elizabeth Wright
	💍 1910/7717
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Frederick St.	Tisbury
Length of Residence	29 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Jessie Fleming Wright, Tisbury
Folio	10/8075
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1910
Officiating Minister	Mr. Richard Morgan

194

13 December 1910

Cornelius Driscoll
Flora McLeam

Cornelius Driscoll
Nora McCann
💍 1910/7707

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

46
26

Omakau
Omakau

27 years
26 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne St.

10/8071

13 December 1910

Very Rev. W. Burke

No	194
Date of Notice	13 December 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cornelius Driscoll	Flora McLeam
BDM Match (75%)	Cornelius Driscoll	Nora McCann
	💍 1910/7707
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	46	26
Dwelling Place	Omakau	Omakau
Length of Residence	27 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne St.
Folio	10/8071
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1910
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. W. Burke

195

15 December 1910

Walter James Urquhart
Marion Nicholson Timpany

Walter James Urquhart
Marion Nicholson Timpany
💍 1910/7671

Bachelor
Spinster

Road Contractor
Dressmaker

38
28

Gore Road
Dee St.

3 years
28 years

Residence of Mr. G. Lindsay, Kelvin St.

10/8045

15 December 1910

Rev. G. Lindsay

No	195
Date of Notice	15 December 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter James Urquhart	Marion Nicholson Timpany
	💍 1910/7671
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Road Contractor	Dressmaker
Age	38	28
Dwelling Place	Gore Road	Dee St.
Length of Residence	3 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. G. Lindsay, Kelvin St.
Folio	10/8045
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Lindsay

196

15 December 1910

George Meredith Bell Morrison
Jessie Elizabeth Stewart Sandilands

George Meredith Bell Morrison
Jessie Elizabeth Stewart Sandilands
💍 1910/7663

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Domestic

32
32

Forth St.
Dee St.

10 years
32 years

Presbyterian Church, Dee St., Invercargill

10/8044

15 December 1910

Rev. G. Lindsay

No	196
Date of Notice	15 December 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Meredith Bell Morrison	Jessie Elizabeth Stewart Sandilands
	💍 1910/7663
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Domestic
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Forth St.	Dee St.
Length of Residence	10 years	32 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee St., Invercargill
Folio	10/8044
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Lindsay

197

17 December 1910

Evan John Evans
Mary Alberta Witting

Evan John Evans
Mary Alberta Witting
💍 1910/7672

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

37
28

Leven St.
Melbourne

5 months
8 years

Methodist Church, Don St.

10/8054

17 December 1910

Rev. W. Laycock

No	197
Date of Notice	17 December 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Evan John Evans	Mary Alberta Witting
	💍 1910/7672
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	37	28
Dwelling Place	Leven St.	Melbourne
Length of Residence	5 months	8 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Don St.
Folio	10/8054
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Laycock

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).