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 426

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 June 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

165

1 April 1911

Thomas Joseph Rogan
Mary Stewart

Thomas Joseph Rogan
Mary Stewart
💍 1911/4327

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 weeks
4 months

In St Joseph's Cathedral

11/4095

Margaret Hallett, Mother

1 April 1911

Jas Coffey

No	165
Date of Notice	1 April 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Joseph Rogan	Mary Stewart
	💍 1911/4327
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 weeks	4 months
Marriage Place	In St Joseph's Cathedral
Folio	11/4095
Consent	Margaret Hallett, Mother
Date of Certificate	1 April 1911
Officiating Minister	Jas Coffey

166

1 April 1911

John Alexander Forbes
Agnes Maggie Steven

John Alexander Forbes
Agnes Maggie Steven
💍 1911/8867

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Manager

33
34

Dunedin
Maori Hill

8 years
20 years

In the house of Mr W. Steven

11/3274

1 April 1911

G. H. Balfour

No	166
Date of Notice	1 April 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander Forbes	Agnes Maggie Steven
	💍 1911/8867
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Manager
Age	33	34
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Maori Hill
Length of Residence	8 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr W. Steven
Folio	11/3274
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1911
Officiating Minister	G. H. Balfour

167

3 April 1911

Alfred Lambert Pike
Janet Patrick

Alfred Lambert Pike
Janet Patrick
💍 1911/8866

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

29
27

Dunedin
246 High Street, Dunedin

3 days
27 years

In the house of Mr W. Patrick

11/3273

3 April 1911

G. H. Balfour

No	167
Date of Notice	3 April 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Lambert Pike	Janet Patrick
	💍 1911/8866
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	246 High Street, Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr W. Patrick
Folio	11/3273
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1911
Officiating Minister	G. H. Balfour

168

3 April 1911

Frank Evans Duive
Christina Grace Tait

Frank Evans
Christina Grace Tait
💍 1911/2226

Divorced
Spinster

Civil Servant

33
39

Hutt
Dunedin

11 years
13 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wellington

11/1875

3 April 1911

Registrar of Marriages

No	168
Date of Notice	3 April 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Evans Duive	Christina Grace Tait
BDM Match (82%)	Frank Evans	Christina Grace Tait
	💍 1911/2226
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	33	39
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Dunedin
Length of Residence	11 years	13 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wellington
Folio	11/1875
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1911
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

169

3 April 1911

George Farquharson
Lilian Millar

George Farquharson
Lilian Millar
💍 1911/6191

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Machinist

24
22

Roslyn
Roslyn

5 years
22 years

In the Baptist Church, Roslyn

11/6056

3 April 1911

E. H. Hobday

No	169
Date of Notice	3 April 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Farquharson	Lilian Millar
	💍 1911/6191
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Machinist
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Roslyn
Length of Residence	5 years	22 years
Marriage Place	In the Baptist Church, Roslyn
Folio	11/6056
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1911
Officiating Minister	E. H. Hobday

170

3 April 1911

William Alfred Abbott
Margaret Frances Watkins

William Alfred Abbott
Margaret Frances Watkins
💍 1911/6326

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

24
24

Dunedin
92 Botting Street, North East Valley

24 years
4 years

In the house of Mr B. Watkins

11/6173

3 April 1911

G. K. Smith

No	170
Date of Notice	3 April 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alfred Abbott	Margaret Frances Watkins
	💍 1911/6326
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	92 Botting Street, North East Valley
Length of Residence	24 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr B. Watkins
Folio	11/6173
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1911
Officiating Minister	G. K. Smith

171

3 April 1911

Frederick William Jowsey
Ada Primrose Hensley

Frederick William Jowsey
Ada Primrose Hensley
💍 1911/3635

Widower
Spinster

Plumber

31
30

North East Valley
41 Regent Street, Mornington

18 months
30 years

At the house of Mrs C. Hensley

11/3316

3 April 1911

F. W. Vealie

No	171
Date of Notice	3 April 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Jowsey	Ada Primrose Hensley
	💍 1911/3635
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	North East Valley	41 Regent Street, Mornington
Length of Residence	18 months	30 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mrs C. Hensley
Folio	11/3316
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1911
Officiating Minister	F. W. Vealie

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).