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 014

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 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

467

25 April 1910

Hugh Holland
Mary McFee

Hugh Holland
Mary McGee
💍 1910/3221

Bachelor
Spinster

Threshing Miller
domestic duties

32
22

Tinwald
Winslow

30 years
22 years

at the Presbyterian Manse Ashburton

10/3281

25 April 1910

Rev G B Inglis

No	467
Date of Notice	25 April 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Holland	Mary McFee
BDM Match (95%)	Hugh Holland	Mary McGee
	💍 1910/3221
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Threshing Miller	domestic duties
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Winslow
Length of Residence	30 years	22 years
Marriage Place	at the Presbyterian Manse Ashburton
Folio	10/3281
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 April 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev G B Inglis

468

26 April 1910

Benjamin Wills
Gertrude Maude Garlic Annett

Benjamin Wills
Gertrude Maude Garlin Annett
💍 1910/3460

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
domestic duties

23
22

Methven
Hinds

23 days
22 years

at the Church of England Hinds

10/3326

26 April 1910

Rev J A Rogers M.A.

No	468
Date of Notice	26 April 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Wills	Gertrude Maude Garlic Annett
BDM Match (98%)	Benjamin Wills	Gertrude Maude Garlin Annett
	💍 1910/3460
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	domestic duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Methven	Hinds
Length of Residence	23 days	22 years
Marriage Place	at the Church of England Hinds
Folio	10/3326
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev J A Rogers M.A.

469

02 May 1910

Roderick Mathieson
Ivy Charlotte Gibbs

Roderick Mathieson
Ivy Charlotte Gibbs
💍 1910/3025

Bachelor
Spinster

dyer
domestic duties

22
20

Ashburton
Ashburton

8 years
4 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

10/3183

There is no person resident in the Dominion having authority to give consent

03 May 1910

W. W. White Registrar

No	469
Date of Notice	02 May 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roderick Mathieson	Ivy Charlotte Gibbs
	💍 1910/3025
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	dyer	domestic duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	8 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	10/3183
Consent	There is no person resident in the Dominion having authority to give consent
Date of Certificate	03 May 1910
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

470

02 May 1910

William McLaren
Charlotte Jane Christensen

William McLaren
Charlotte Jane Christenson
💍 1910/3110

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
domestic duties

25
21

Mayfield
Allenton

10 years
12 months

Baring Square Church Ashburton

10/3260

02 May 1910

Rev. A. C. Bellhouse

No	470
Date of Notice	02 May 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McLaren	Charlotte Jane Christensen
BDM Match (98%)	William McLaren	Charlotte Jane Christenson
	💍 1910/3110
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	domestic duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Mayfield	Allenton
Length of Residence	10 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Baring Square Church Ashburton
Folio	10/3260
Consent
Date of Certificate	02 May 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Bellhouse

471

04 May 1910

William Joshua Heasley
Mary Alexandra Henderson

William Joshua Heasley
Mary Alexandra Henderson
💍 1910/2937

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
domestic duties

30
23

Eiffleton
Christchurch

3 years
3 days

Wesleyan Church Willowby

10/3007

04 May 1910

Rev. S. H. D. Peryman

No	471
Date of Notice	04 May 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joshua Heasley	Mary Alexandra Henderson
	💍 1910/2937
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	domestic duties
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Eiffleton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church Willowby
Folio	10/3007
Consent
Date of Certificate	04 May 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. H. D. Peryman

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).