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 509

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 December 1901 Registrar Henry Waywell

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

705

12 December 1901

David Hunt
Merwyn Daniels

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Tailoress

31 years
24 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

31 years
20 years

In St. Paul's Cathedral

11/7966

12 December 1901

H. G. Gould

No	705
Date of Notice	12 December 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Hunt	Merwyn Daniels
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Tailoress
Age	31 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	31 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In St. Paul's Cathedral
Folio	11/7966
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1901
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gould

706

13 December 1901

Alexander Donald Cormack
Helen Beatrice Scott

Alexander Donald Cormach
Helen Beatrice Scott
💍 1911/7132

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor
Tailoress

32 years
29 years

South Dunedin
South Dunedin

21 years
1 year

In the Presbyterian Church

11/7195

13 December 1901

R. Hairmaid

No	706
Date of Notice	13 December 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Donald Cormack	Helen Beatrice Scott
BDM Match (98%)	Alexander Donald Cormach	Helen Beatrice Scott
	💍 1911/7132
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor	Tailoress
Age	32 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	21 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church
Folio	11/7195
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1901
Officiating Minister	R. Hairmaid

707

14 December 1901

James Forrester O'Connor
Mary Nicholson McPhie

James Forrester O'Connor
Mary Nicholson McGhie
💍 1911/7183

Bachelor
Spinster

Lifter

36 years
31 years

St. Kilda
80 Dowling Street, Dunedin

3 months
29 years

In the house of Mr. H. B. McPhie

11/7247

14 December 1901

G. H. Balfour

No	707
Date of Notice	14 December 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Forrester O'Connor	Mary Nicholson McPhie
BDM Match (98%)	James Forrester O'Connor	Mary Nicholson McGhie
	💍 1911/7183
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lifter
Age	36 years	31 years
Dwelling Place	St. Kilda	80 Dowling Street, Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 months	29 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. H. B. McPhie
Folio	11/7247
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1901
Officiating Minister	G. H. Balfour

708

14 December 1901

Henry Bain
Amy Winifred Thomas

Henry Bain
Amy Winifred Thomas
💍 1911/7166

Bachelor
Spinster

Carriage Painter

30 years
27 years

Dunedin
Mornington

30 years
2 years

In St. Mary's Church, Mornington

11/7275

14 December 1901

A. Neild

No	708
Date of Notice	14 December 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Bain	Amy Winifred Thomas
	💍 1911/7166
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carriage Painter
Age	30 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Mornington
Length of Residence	30 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In St. Mary's Church, Mornington
Folio	11/7275
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1901
Officiating Minister	A. Neild

709

14 December 1901

John Edward Ronald
Catherine Helen Ronald

John Edward Ronald
Catherine Helen Ronald
💍 1911/7137

Bachelor
Widow

Wool Classer

36 years
34 years

Mornington
Mornington

13 months
3 months

In the house of Mr. H. Jones, 9 Maitland Street, Dunedin

11/7200

14 December 1901

C. Wallaston

No	709
Date of Notice	14 December 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edward Ronald	Catherine Helen Ronald
	💍 1911/7137
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Wool Classer
Age	36 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Mornington
Length of Residence	13 months	3 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. H. Jones, 9 Maitland Street, Dunedin
Folio	11/7200
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1901
Officiating Minister	C. Wallaston

710

15 December 1901

James Flemming
Isabella Walker McCutcheon

James Fleming
Isabella Walker McCutcheon
💍 1911/7198

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Factory Hand

32 years
33 years

Halfway Bush
Dunedin

3 months
19 months

In the house of Mr. J. McCutcheon, Montague Street, North East Valley

11/7242

15 December 1901

D. Mason

No	710
Date of Notice	15 December 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Flemming	Isabella Walker McCutcheon
BDM Match (96%)	James Fleming	Isabella Walker McCutcheon
	💍 1911/7198
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Factory Hand
Age	32 years	33 years
Dwelling Place	Halfway Bush	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 months	19 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. J. McCutcheon, Montague Street, North East Valley
Folio	11/7242
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1901
Officiating Minister	D. Mason

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).