Intentions to Marry, 1911 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840447, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1911 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, (1911a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1911b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1911c).

Page 021

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 1911 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

480

3 July 1911

George Leonard Clarence Chapman
Bertha Espie Jack

George Leonard Clarence Chapman
Bethia Espie Jack
💍 1911/4675

Bachelor
Spinster

Assistant Brewer
Domestic duties

31
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 weeks

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

11/4496

3 July 1911

W. W. White Registrar

No	480
Date of Notice	3 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Leonard Clarence Chapman	Bertha Espie Jack
BDM Match (94%)	George Leonard Clarence Chapman	Bethia Espie Jack
	💍 1911/4675
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Assistant Brewer	Domestic duties
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	11/4496
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1911
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

581

3 July 1911

Archibald Abron Thomas
Ada Alice Willers

Archibald Abrow Thomas
Ada Alice Willers
💍 1911/9009

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

26
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

20 years
24 years

at the dwelling of Rev. J. Woolloxall Wakanui Road Hampstead

11/8650

3 July 1911

Rev. J. Woolloxall

No	581
Date of Notice	3 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Abron Thomas	Ada Alice Willers
BDM Match (98%)	Archibald Abrow Thomas	Ada Alice Willers
	💍 1911/9009
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	20 years	24 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of Rev. J. Woolloxall Wakanui Road Hampstead
Folio	11/8650
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Woolloxall

582

14 July 1911

William Davidson Stalker
Flora McMillan

William Davidson Stalker
Flora McMillan
💍 1911/4676

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

24
27

Tinwald
Tinwald

24 years
27 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

11/4497

14 July 1911

W. W. White Registrar

No	582
Date of Notice	14 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Davidson Stalker	Flora McMillan
	💍 1911/4676
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Tinwald
Length of Residence	24 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	11/4497
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1911
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

583

31 July 1911

John Brogen
Mary Smith

John Brogen
Mary Smith
💍 1911/5933

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman
domestic duties

27
50

Wellington
Riverside

3 days
20 years

Presbyterian Church Wakanui

11/5787

Mary Swift brother of Minor

31 July 1911

Rev G. B. Inglis

No	583
Date of Notice	31 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Brogen	Mary Smith
	💍 1911/5933
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman	domestic duties
Age	27	50
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Riverside
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Wakanui
Folio	11/5787
Consent	Mary Swift brother of Minor
Date of Certificate	31 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev G. B. Inglis

584

7 August 1911

Barnabus Waugh Kenney
Kate Augustina Lidstone

Barnabus Waugh Kenney
Kate Augusina Lidstone
💍 1911/5803

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
domestic duties

26
25

Eiffelton
Eiffelton

6 years
25 years

At the dwelling of William Lidstone Eiffelton

11/5649

7 August 1911

Rev J A Brown

No	584
Date of Notice	7 August 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Barnabus Waugh Kenney	Kate Augustina Lidstone
BDM Match (98%)	Barnabus Waugh Kenney	Kate Augusina Lidstone
	💍 1911/5803
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	domestic duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Eiffelton	Eiffelton
Length of Residence	6 years	25 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of William Lidstone Eiffelton
Folio	11/5649
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev J A Brown

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).