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 393

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

14 February 1910

Alfred Watts Valentine
Sarah Jane Cormack

Alfred Watts Valentine
Sarah Jane Cormack
💍 1910/1623

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
25

Dunedin
Portobello

3 years
22 years

In the house of Wm Wintow, Portobello

10/1667

14 February 1910

A. Greig

No	64
Date of Notice	14 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Watts Valentine	Sarah Jane Cormack
	💍 1910/1623
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Portobello
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Wm Wintow, Portobello
Folio	10/1667
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1910
Officiating Minister	A. Greig

15 February 1910

Thomas Walter Scofield
Edith Mary Smith

Thomas Walter Seafield
Edith Mary Smith
💍 1910/1624

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
26

St Kilda
North East Valley

18 months
26 years

In St Stephen's Church, Great King Street, Dunedin

10/1668

15 February 1910

J. R. McIntyre

No	65
Date of Notice	15 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Walter Scofield	Edith Mary Smith
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Walter Seafield	Edith Mary Smith
	💍 1910/1624
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	St Kilda	North East Valley
Length of Residence	18 months	26 years
Marriage Place	In St Stephen's Church, Great King Street, Dunedin
Folio	10/1668
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1910
Officiating Minister	J. R. McIntyre

16 February 1910

Andrew Martin
Margaret Best

Andrew Martin
Margaret Best
💍 1910/1605

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

28
47

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
45 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

10/1622

16 February 1910

H. Maxwell

No	66
Date of Notice	16 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Martin	Margaret Best
	💍 1910/1605
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	28	47
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	45 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	10/1622
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1910
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

16 February 1910

George John Wills
Lily Barnes

George John Wills
Lily Baines
💍 1910/1658

Bachelor
Spinster

Crockery Merchant

25
22

South Dunedin
Dunedin

20 years
22 years

In the Primitive Methodist Church, Dundas Street, Dunedin

10/1706

16 February 1910

G. K. Smith

No	67
Date of Notice	16 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George John Wills	Lily Barnes
BDM Match (95%)	George John Wills	Lily Baines
	💍 1910/1658
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Crockery Merchant
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	22 years
Marriage Place	In the Primitive Methodist Church, Dundas Street, Dunedin
Folio	10/1706
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1910
Officiating Minister	G. K. Smith

17 February 1910

Robert William Brewer
Jessie Michie

Robert William Brewer
Jessie Michie
💍 1910/1625

Bachelor
Spinster

Carriage Painter

40
38

Anderson's Bay
Mornington

3 weeks
38 years

In the house of Mr James Michie, 19 Regent Street, Mornington

10/1669

17 February 1910

W. Scorgie

No	68
Date of Notice	17 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William Brewer	Jessie Michie
	💍 1910/1625
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carriage Painter
Age	40	38
Dwelling Place	Anderson's Bay	Mornington
Length of Residence	3 weeks	38 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr James Michie, 19 Regent Street, Mornington
Folio	10/1669
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1910
Officiating Minister	W. Scorgie

17 February 1910

William Stirling
Elizabeth Ann Carruthers

William Stirling
Elizabeth Ann Carruthers
💍 1910/2014

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the house of Miss Jane Smith, 16 London Street, Dunedin

10/1715

Isabella Carruthers, mother

17 February 1910

E. O. Blamires

No	69
Date of Notice	17 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stirling	Elizabeth Ann Carruthers
	💍 1910/2014
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Miss Jane Smith, 16 London Street, Dunedin
Folio	10/1715
Consent	Isabella Carruthers, mother
Date of Certificate	17 February 1910
Officiating Minister	E. O. Blamires

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).