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 759

District of Otepopo Quarter ending 31 March 1911 Registrar James Fleming

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

333

16 January 1911

Thomas Ryan
Jane Hawthorne Harvey

Thomas Ryan
Jane Hawthorne Harvey
💍 1911/794

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter
Domestic duties

29
22

Maheno
Maheno

3 days
19 years

Wairoa Farm house

11/244

16 January 1911

Rev. H. J. Davis, Anglican

No	333
Date of Notice	16 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Ryan	Jane Hawthorne Harvey
	💍 1911/794
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter	Domestic duties
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Maheno	Maheno
Length of Residence	3 days	19 years
Marriage Place	Wairoa Farm house
Folio	11/244
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Davis, Anglican

334

16 January 1911

James Howden Falconer
Elizabeth McIntosh Robertson

James Howden Falconer
Elizabeth McIntosh Robertson
💍 1911/1973

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

34
31

Kakanui
Kakanui

34 years
23 years

Residence of Mr. J. Robertson

11/1525

16 January 1911

Rev. P. C. Rennie, Presbyterian

No	334
Date of Notice	16 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Howden Falconer	Elizabeth McIntosh Robertson
	💍 1911/1973
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	34	31
Dwelling Place	Kakanui	Kakanui
Length of Residence	34 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Robertson
Folio	11/1525
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. C. Rennie, Presbyterian

335

21 January 1911

William Leslie Hosking
Jane Lindsay Maheno

William Leslie Hosking
Jane Lindsay
💍 1911/714

Bachelor
Spinster

Wheelwright
School Teacher

35
25

Fairlie
Maheno

6 years
3 months

St. Andrew's Anglican Church, Pleasant Point, Mount Cook

11/1187

21 January 1911

Rev. H. J. Davis, Anglican

No	335
Date of Notice	21 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Leslie Hosking	Jane Lindsay Maheno
BDM Match (82%)	William Leslie Hosking	Jane Lindsay
	💍 1911/714
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wheelwright	School Teacher
Age	35	25
Dwelling Place	Fairlie	Maheno
Length of Residence	6 years	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Anglican Church, Pleasant Point, Mount Cook
Folio	11/1187
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Davis, Anglican

336

24 January 1911

Alexander McLean
Jessie Morton Macaulay

Alexander McLean
Jessie Morton Macaulay
💍 1911/1974

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher
Domestic duties

38
40

Allday Bay
'Aorere', Kakanui

3 days
4 years

'Aorere'

11/1526

24 January 1911

Rev. P. C. Rennie, Presbyterian

No	336
Date of Notice	24 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander McLean	Jessie Morton Macaulay
	💍 1911/1974
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher	Domestic duties
Age	38	40
Dwelling Place	Allday Bay	'Aorere', Kakanui
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	'Aorere'
Folio	11/1526
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. C. Rennie, Presbyterian

337

21 February 1911

Alexander Lindsay
Robina Lindsay Harvey

Alexander Lindsay
Robina Lindsay Harvey
💍 1911/769

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic duties

27
19

Maheno
Maheno

24 years
18 years

Residence of Mrs. Harvey, Wairisa Farm, Maheno

11/169

Mary Harvey, Mother of Bride

21 February 1911

Rev. H. J. Davis, Anglican

No	337
Date of Notice	21 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Lindsay	Robina Lindsay Harvey
	💍 1911/769
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic duties
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Maheno	Maheno
Length of Residence	24 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Harvey, Wairisa Farm, Maheno
Folio	11/169
Consent	Mary Harvey, Mother of Bride
Date of Certificate	21 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Davis, Anglican

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).