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 409

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1911 Registrar Henry Maxwell

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

3 February 1911

Louis Lawson
Isabella May Martin

Louis Lawson
Isabella May Martin
💍 1911/368

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22 years
24 years

Maori Hill
Caversham

22 years
2 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

11/1061

3 February 1911

H. Maxwell

No	57
Date of Notice	3 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Lawson	Isabella May Martin
	💍 1911/368
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Maori Hill	Caversham
Length of Residence	22 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	11/1061
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1911
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

4 February 1911

Joshua Davis
Mary Ellen Brooks

Joshua Davis
Mary Ellen Brooks
💍 1911/4490

Widower
Spinster

Miner
Machinist

31 years
30 years

Green Island
Roslyn

20 years
7 months

In the Presbyterian Church, Church Street, Roslyn

11/4233

4 February 1911

R. R. M. Sutherland

No	58
Date of Notice	4 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joshua Davis	Mary Ellen Brooks
	💍 1911/4490
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Machinist
Age	31 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Green Island	Roslyn
Length of Residence	20 years	7 months
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church, Church Street, Roslyn
Folio	11/4233
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1911
Officiating Minister	R. R. M. Sutherland

4 February 1911

Arthur Gordon Homer
Cecilia Catherine Gilchrist

Arthur Gordon Homer
Cecilia Catherine Gilchrist
💍 1911/4491

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

22 years
18 years

Dunedin
Roslyn

6 years
14 years

In the house of Mr. James Gilchrist, 12 Anderson Road, Roslyn

11/4234

James Gilchrist, Father

4 February 1911

R. R. M. Sutherland

No	59
Date of Notice	4 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Gordon Homer	Cecilia Catherine Gilchrist
	💍 1911/4491
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	22 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Roslyn
Length of Residence	6 years	14 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. James Gilchrist, 12 Anderson Road, Roslyn
Folio	11/4234
Consent	James Gilchrist, Father
Date of Certificate	4 February 1911
Officiating Minister	R. R. M. Sutherland

6 February 1911

Walter Watson Stewart
Letitia Evans

Walter Watson Stewart
Letitia Evans
💍 1911/1796

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger
Dressmaker

25 years
24 years

Caversham
St. Kilda

25 years
24 years

In the Baptist Church, Main South Road, Caversham

11/1294

6 February 1911

W. Perry

No	60
Date of Notice	6 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Watson Stewart	Letitia Evans
	💍 1911/1796
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger	Dressmaker
Age	25 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	St. Kilda
Length of Residence	25 years	24 years
Marriage Place	In the Baptist Church, Main South Road, Caversham
Folio	11/1294
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1911
Officiating Minister	W. Perry

7 February 1911

Walter Theodore Mathewson
Mary Josephine Callaghan

Walter Theodore Mathewson
Mary Josephine Callaghan
💍 1911/1706

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30 years
20 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
20 years

In the house of Mrs. I. Callaghan, 2 Maclaggan Street, Dunedin

11/1253

James Callaghan, Father

7 February 1911

A. E. Axelsen

No	61
Date of Notice	7 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Theodore Mathewson	Mary Josephine Callaghan
	💍 1911/1706
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs. I. Callaghan, 2 Maclaggan Street, Dunedin
Folio	11/1253
Consent	James Callaghan, Father
Date of Certificate	7 February 1911
Officiating Minister	A. E. Axelsen

8 February 1911

Henry Williamson
Lily Martha Dodge

Henry Williamson
Lily Martha Dodge
💍 1911/369

Bachelor
Spinster

Picture framer
Tailoress

43 years
32 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

43 years
10 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

11/1062

8 February 1911

H. Maxwell

No	62
Date of Notice	8 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Williamson	Lily Martha Dodge
	💍 1911/369
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Picture framer	Tailoress
Age	43 years	32 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	43 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	11/1062
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1911
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

9 February 1911

Michael Francis Ryan
Mary Jane Erasmuson

Martin Francis Ryan
Mary June Erasmusson
💍 1911/2626

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

31 years
25 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the house of Miss. I. Tweed, 82 Heriot Row, Dunedin

11/1762

9 February 1911

P. W. Fairclough

No	63
Date of Notice	9 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Francis Ryan	Mary Jane Erasmuson
BDM Match (80%)	Martin Francis Ryan	Mary June Erasmusson
	💍 1911/2626
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	31 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Miss. I. Tweed, 82 Heriot Row, Dunedin
Folio	11/1762
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1911
Officiating Minister	P. W. Fairclough

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).