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 026

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1910 Registrar William Winsbury White

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

522

24 November 1910

Henry John Bracroft Harper
Helen Rachel Peache

Henry John Cracroft Harper
Helen Rachel Peache
💍 1910/7551

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
domestic duties

32
20

Upper Hackthorn
Mt Somers

30 years
20 years

Church of England, Mt Somers

10/7929

Ida Frances Peache, mother & guardian

24 November 1910

Rev G. H. Pritchett

No	522
Date of Notice	24 November 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Bracroft Harper	Helen Rachel Peache
BDM Match (98%)	Henry John Cracroft Harper	Helen Rachel Peache
	💍 1910/7551
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	domestic duties
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Upper Hackthorn	Mt Somers
Length of Residence	30 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Mt Somers
Folio	10/7929
Consent	Ida Frances Peache, mother & guardian
Date of Certificate	24 November 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev G. H. Pritchett

523

25 November 1910

Andrew Boyd
Elizabeth Anderson

Andrew Boyd
Elizabeth Anderson
💍 1910/7401

Peter McDonald
Elizabeth Anderson
💍 1910/7971

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

36
24

Ruapuna
Mayfield

2 years
12 months

In the dwelling of Andrew Boyd, Ruapuna

10/7751

25 November 1910

Rev James Wilson

No	523
Date of Notice	25 November 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Boyd	Elizabeth Anderson
	💍 1910/7401
BDM Match (61%)	Peter McDonald	Elizabeth Anderson
	💍 1910/7971
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	36	24
Dwelling Place	Ruapuna	Mayfield
Length of Residence	2 years	12 months
Marriage Place	In the dwelling of Andrew Boyd, Ruapuna
Folio	10/7751
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 November 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev James Wilson

524

25 November 1910

Arthur Lonsdale Fouch
Mary Nealon

Arthur Lonsdale Louch
Mary Nealon
💍 1910/8422

Bachelor
Spinster

Dentist
domestic duties

25
19

Ashburton
Ashburton

4 years
19 years

At the Presbytery, Ashburton

10/7759

Richard Nealon, father of minor

25 November 1910

Dean O'Donnell

No	524
Date of Notice	25 November 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Lonsdale Fouch	Mary Nealon
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Lonsdale Louch	Mary Nealon
	💍 1910/8422
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dentist	domestic duties
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 years	19 years
Marriage Place	At the Presbytery, Ashburton
Folio	10/7759
Consent	Richard Nealon, father of minor
Date of Certificate	25 November 1910
Officiating Minister	Dean O'Donnell

525

25 November 1910

Henry Houston
Beatrice Jane Dellow

Henry Houston
Beatrice Jane Dellow
💍 1910/7581

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

25
23

Waterton
Mayfield

25 years
23 years

Church of England, Mayfield

10/4937

25 November 1910

Rev G. H. Pritchett

No	525
Date of Notice	25 November 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Houston	Beatrice Jane Dellow
	💍 1910/7581
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Waterton	Mayfield
Length of Residence	25 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Mayfield
Folio	10/4937
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 November 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev G. H. Pritchett

526

28 November 1910

John Patrick McAnulty
Rose Morland

John Patrick McAnnely
Ivy Madeline Foster Morland
💍 1910/7356

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
domestic duties

30
23

Rakaia
Rakaia

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton (Not solemnised by Registrar, certificate issued later on)

28 November 1910

W. W. White, Registrar

No	526
Date of Notice	28 November 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Patrick McAnulty	Rose Morland
BDM Match (63%)	John Patrick McAnnely	Ivy Madeline Foster Morland
	💍 1910/7356
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	domestic duties
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Rakaia	Rakaia
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton (Not solemnised by Registrar, certificate issued later on)
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 November 1910
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

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).