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 397

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1910

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

1 March 1910

Alexander Kilgour Towie
Ellenora Beck

Alexander Kilgorer Howie
Ellenore Beck
💍 1910/1651

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Tailoress

25 years
34 years

St Kilda
St Kilda

3 years
5 years

In the House of Mr W Beck, 11 Young Street, St Kilda

10/1699

1 March 1910

W A Sinclair

No	91
Date of Notice	1 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Kilgour Towie	Ellenora Beck
BDM Match (90%)	Alexander Kilgorer Howie	Ellenore Beck
	💍 1910/1651
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Tailoress
Age	25 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	St Kilda	St Kilda
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Mr W Beck, 11 Young Street, St Kilda
Folio	10/1699
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1910
Officiating Minister	W A Sinclair

1 March 1910

William Hay Kirkness
Mary Isobel Kirkness

William Hay
Mary Isobel Kirkness
💍 1910/1610

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

22 years
24 years

Dunedin
Mornington

22 years
24 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

10/1626

1 March 1910

H Maxwell

No	92
Date of Notice	1 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hay Kirkness	Mary Isobel Kirkness
BDM Match (78%)	William Hay	Mary Isobel Kirkness
	💍 1910/1610
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	22 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Mornington
Length of Residence	22 years	24 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	10/1626
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1910
Officiating Minister	H Maxwell

2 March 1910

Robert Chalmers Wallace
Myrtle Speatman Pedlar

Robert Chalmers Wallace
Myrtle Speatman Pedlar
💍 1910/1611

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

28 years
26 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

28 years
2 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

10/1629

2 March 1910

H Maxwell

No	93
Date of Notice	2 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Chalmers Wallace	Myrtle Speatman Pedlar
	💍 1910/1611
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	28 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	28 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	10/1629
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1910
Officiating Minister	H Maxwell

2 March 1910

David Millar Beath
Louisa Martha Beighton

David Miller Birth
Louisa Martha Beighton
💍 1910/1904

Bachelor
Spinster

Caretaker

42 years
37 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

42 years
12 months

In the House of Mr Andrew Mowat, 39 Arthur Street, Dunedin

10/1947

2 March 1910

R Fairmaid

No	94
Date of Notice	2 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Millar Beath	Louisa Martha Beighton
BDM Match (92%)	David Miller Birth	Louisa Martha Beighton
	💍 1910/1904
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Caretaker
Age	42 years	37 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	42 years	12 months
Marriage Place	In the House of Mr Andrew Mowat, 39 Arthur Street, Dunedin
Folio	10/1947
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1910
Officiating Minister	R Fairmaid

3 March 1910

Frederick George Robinson
Margaret Kennard Thomas

Frederick George Robinson
Margaret Kennard Thomas
💍 1910/1627

Bachelor
Spinster

Waiter

22 years
21 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
4 years

On the House of The Rev A E Roelsen, 41 Clyde Street, Dunedin

10/1621

3 March 1910

A E Roelsen

No	95
Date of Notice	3 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick George Robinson	Margaret Kennard Thomas
	💍 1910/1627
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waiter
Age	22 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	On the House of The Rev A E Roelsen, 41 Clyde Street, Dunedin
Folio	10/1621
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1910
Officiating Minister	A E Roelsen

3 March 1910

William Strang
Kathleen Minnie Braithwaite

William Strang
Kathleen Minnie Braithwaite
💍 1910/1678

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

32 years
23 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
3 years

In St Pauls Cathedral, Dunedin

10/1646

3 March 1910

H G Gould

No	96
Date of Notice	3 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Strang	Kathleen Minnie Braithwaite
	💍 1910/1678
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	32 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In St Pauls Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	10/1646
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1910
Officiating Minister	H G Gould

3 March 1910

Percy Joshua Reeve Warren
Janet Cowan Vosper

Percy Joshua Reeve Warren
Janet Cowan Vosper
💍 1910/629

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

35 years
35 years

Dunedin
Waitara

7 months
28 years

In the Wesleyan Waitara Methodist Church, Waitara

10/620

3 March 1910

A J Reed

No	97
Date of Notice	3 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Joshua Reeve Warren	Janet Cowan Vosper
	💍 1910/629
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	35 years	35 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Waitara
Length of Residence	7 months	28 years
Marriage Place	In the Wesleyan Waitara Methodist Church, Waitara
Folio	10/620
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1910
Officiating Minister	A J Reed

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).