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 010

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 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

448

21 February 1910

Arthur Lewis Oakley
Ethel Mary Brannan

Arthur Lewis Oakley
Ethel Mary Brannan
💍 1910/2609

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dress-maker

54
26

Mayfield
Mayfield

11 years
16 years

Church of England, Mayfield

10/1587

21 February 1910

Rev. P. A. Ritchett

No	448
Date of Notice	21 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Lewis Oakley	Ethel Mary Brannan
	💍 1910/2609
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dress-maker
Age	54	26
Dwelling Place	Mayfield	Mayfield
Length of Residence	11 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Mayfield
Folio	10/1587
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. A. Ritchett

449

22 February 1910

Herbert Smith
Jessie Johnstone Mathieson

Herbert Ernest Smith
Jessie Johnstone Mathieson
💍 1910/1199

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Domestic duties

27
20

Ashburton
Ashburton

12 months
3 months

Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

10/1300

Robert Mathieson, father of minor

22 February 1910

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	449
Date of Notice	22 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Smith	Jessie Johnstone Mathieson
BDM Match (83%)	Herbert Ernest Smith	Jessie Johnstone Mathieson
	💍 1910/1199
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic duties
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	12 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	10/1300
Consent	Robert Mathieson, father of minor
Date of Certificate	22 February 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

450

23 February 1910

William Aitchison
Janet Bayne Lane

William Aitchison
Janet Bayne Lane
💍 1910/1200

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic duties

29
25

Ashburton
Allenton

3 years
5 years

Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

10/1301

23 February 1910

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	450
Date of Notice	23 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Aitchison	Janet Bayne Lane
	💍 1910/1200
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic duties
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Allenton
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	10/1301
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

451

26 February 1910

Frederick Aydes
Florence Emily Dellow

Frederick Hydes
Florence Emily Dellow
💍 1910/1201

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

35
19

Ashburton Forks
Ashburton Forks

32 years
19 years

At the residence of William Dellow, Ashburton Forks

10/1302

William Dellow, father of minor

26 February 1910

Rev. R. Phiddell

No	451
Date of Notice	26 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Aydes	Florence Emily Dellow
BDM Match (97%)	Frederick Hydes	Florence Emily Dellow
	💍 1910/1201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	35	19
Dwelling Place	Ashburton Forks	Ashburton Forks
Length of Residence	32 years	19 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of William Dellow, Ashburton Forks
Folio	10/1302
Consent	William Dellow, father of minor
Date of Certificate	26 February 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Phiddell

452

8 March 1910

Henry George Cameron
Amy Elizabeth Ede

Henry George Cameron
Amy Elizabeth Ede
💍 1910/1214

Widower
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic duties

38
18

Christchurch
Allenton

3 weeks
7 days

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

10/1291

Benjamin Ede, junior, father of minor

8 March 1910

W. W. White, Registrar

No	452
Date of Notice	8 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry George Cameron	Amy Elizabeth Ede
	💍 1910/1214
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic duties
Age	38	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Allenton
Length of Residence	3 weeks	7 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	10/1291
Consent	Benjamin Ede, junior, father of minor
Date of Certificate	8 March 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).