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 702

District of Mount Benger Quarter ending 30 September 1911 Registrar E. W. Salek

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

4 July 1911

Geo. Samuel Hall
Lucy Jenkins

George Samuel Hall
Lucy Jenkins
💍 1911/8710

Bachelor
Spinster

Dredgeman
Domestic Duties

29
19

Effrick
Effrick

12 years
3 years

St James Church of England, Roxburgh

11/878

Father

4 July 1911

Rev. W. A. R. Fitchett

No	4
Date of Notice	4 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Geo. Samuel Hall	Lucy Jenkins
BDM Match (92%)	George Samuel Hall	Lucy Jenkins
	💍 1911/8710
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dredgeman	Domestic Duties
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Effrick	Effrick
Length of Residence	12 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St James Church of England, Roxburgh
Folio	11/878
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	4 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. R. Fitchett

27 July 1911

William Hary Brown
Isabella May Shiels

William Henry Brown
Isabella May Shiels
💍 1911/5216

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

35
26

Millers Flat
Millers Flat

2 years
Life

Catholic Church, Millers Flat

11/5050

27 July 1911

Rev. C. J. Collins

No	5
Date of Notice	27 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hary Brown	Isabella May Shiels
BDM Match (95%)	William Henry Brown	Isabella May Shiels
	💍 1911/5216
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	Millers Flat	Millers Flat
Length of Residence	2 years	Life
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Millers Flat
Folio	11/5050
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. J. Collins

5 September 1911

William John Fieldseth
Marguerite Bessie Lydia Browne

William John Fuldseth
Marquerite Bessie Lydia Browne
💍 1911/6021

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk
Domestic Duties

26
28

Roxburgh
Winton

2 years
5 years

St. Pauls Cathedral, Dunedin

11/5924

5 September 1911

Rev. J. Richards

No	6
Date of Notice	5 September 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Fieldseth	Marguerite Bessie Lydia Browne
BDM Match (94%)	William John Fuldseth	Marquerite Bessie Lydia Browne
	💍 1911/6021
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Roxburgh	Winton
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	11/5924
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 September 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Richards

4 September 1911

William Samuel Moore
Mary Rebecca Dixon

William Samuel Moore
Mary Rebecca Dixon
💍 1911/6070

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

28
22

Roxburgh
Roxburgh

Life
Life

Methodist Church, Roxburgh

11/5963

4 September 1911

Rev. H. Greenslade, Gore

No	7
Date of Notice	4 September 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Samuel Moore	Mary Rebecca Dixon
	💍 1911/6070
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Roxburgh	Roxburgh
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Roxburgh
Folio	11/5963
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 September 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Greenslade, Gore

23 September 1911

Thomas Ryan Jones
Janet Sillars

Thomas Ryan Jones
Janet Sillars
💍 1911/9004

Bachelor
Spinster

Dredge Master

35
31

Meleis Flat
Meleis Flat

10 years
31 years

Presbyterian Church, Millers Flat

11/8528

23 September 1911

Rev. A. J. G. Chandler

No	8
Date of Notice	23 September 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Ryan Jones	Janet Sillars
	💍 1911/9004
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dredge Master
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Meleis Flat	Meleis Flat
Length of Residence	10 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Millers Flat
Folio	11/8528
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 September 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. G. Chandler

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).