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 544

District of East Taieri Quarter ending 30 September 1911 Registrar Gilbert Burness Burns

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

19 July 1911

James Blackie
Christina Turnbull

James Blackie
Christina Turnbull
💍 1911/8711

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

19
21

East Taieri, Otago
Mosgiel, Otago

19 years
21 years

Dwelling of N.W. Turnbull

11/872

Walter Blackie, Father

19 July 1911

Rev. A. H. Kinmont, East Taieri

No	19
Date of Notice	19 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Blackie	Christina Turnbull
	💍 1911/8711
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	19	21
Dwelling Place	East Taieri, Otago	Mosgiel, Otago
Length of Residence	19 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of N.W. Turnbull
Folio	11/872
Consent	Walter Blackie, Father
Date of Certificate	19 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Kinmont, East Taieri

20 July 1911

Alexander Harper
Elizabeth Martha Caithness

Alexander Harper
Elizabeth Martha Caithness
💍 1911/5907

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker

27
23

Mosgiel, Otago
Gore

1 week
3 days

Patterson's Tea Rooms, Gore

11/5757

20 July 1911

Rev. G. McDonald, Mataura

No	20
Date of Notice	20 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Harper	Elizabeth Martha Caithness
	💍 1911/5907
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel, Otago	Gore
Length of Residence	1 week	3 days
Marriage Place	Patterson's Tea Rooms, Gore
Folio	11/5757
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. McDonald, Mataura

15 August 1911

George Brand
Margaret Elizabeth Manderson

George Brand
Margaret Elizabeth Manderson
💍 1911/8712

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

36
27

Mosgiel Junction, Otago
Mosgiel Junction, Otago

3 days
27 years

House of M. Manderson

11/8724

15 August 1911

Rev. A. H. Kinmont, East Taieri

No	21
Date of Notice	15 August 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Brand	Margaret Elizabeth Manderson
	💍 1911/8712
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	36	27
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel Junction, Otago	Mosgiel Junction, Otago
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	House of M. Manderson
Folio	11/8724
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Kinmont, East Taieri

15 August 1911

William Robert Manderson
Helen Findlay Manderson

William Robert Manderson
Helen Finlay Manderson
💍 1911/8713

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
23

Mosgiel Junction, Otago
Mosgiel Junction, Otago

26 days
23 years

House of M. Manderson

11/8725

15 August 1911

Rev. A. H. Kinmont, East Taieri

No	22
Date of Notice	15 August 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robert Manderson	Helen Findlay Manderson
BDM Match (98%)	William Robert Manderson	Helen Finlay Manderson
	💍 1911/8713
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel Junction, Otago	Mosgiel Junction, Otago
Length of Residence	26 days	23 years
Marriage Place	House of M. Manderson
Folio	11/8725
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Kinmont, East Taieri

21 August 1911

John McGregor
Donaldina Gallander

John McGregor
Donaldina Callander
💍 1911/8646

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool Expert

28
25

Mosgiel, Otago
Mosgiel Junction, Otago

1 week
25 years

House of J. Gallander

11/8726

21 August 1911

Rev. A. H. Kinmont, East Taieri

No	23
Date of Notice	21 August 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McGregor	Donaldina Gallander
BDM Match (97%)	John McGregor	Donaldina Callander
	💍 1911/8646
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool Expert
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel, Otago	Mosgiel Junction, Otago
Length of Residence	1 week	25 years
Marriage Place	House of J. Gallander
Folio	11/8726
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 August 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Kinmont, East Taieri

19 September 1911

Thomas Edward Wilkins
Elizabeth Anne O'Donnell

Thomas Edward Wilkins
Elizabeth Anne O'Donnell
💍 1911/5911

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
24

Allanton, Otago
Allanton, Otago

3 days
10 years

Roman Catholic Church, Allanton, Otago

11/5789

19 September 1911

Rev. J. Liston, Mosgiel

No	24
Date of Notice	19 September 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Edward Wilkins	Elizabeth Anne O'Donnell
	💍 1911/5911
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Allanton, Otago	Allanton, Otago
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Allanton, Otago
Folio	11/5789
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 September 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Liston, Mosgiel

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).