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 815

District of Tokomairiro Quarter ending 31 March 1911 Registrar P D Maguire

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

12 January 1911

William Clark
Eliza Christina Stirling Gardiner

William Clark
Eliza Christina Stirling Gardiner McEwan
💍 1911/2151

Bachelor
Spinster

Miller
Domestic Duties

27
26

Milton
Milton

27 years
26 years

House of Mr W McEwan, Fairfax

11/1604

12 January 1911

Rev G Miller

No	1
Date of Notice	12 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Clark	Eliza Christina Stirling Gardiner
BDM Match (91%)	William Clark	Eliza Christina Stirling Gardiner McEwan
	💍 1911/2151
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miller	Domestic Duties
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Milton	Milton
Length of Residence	27 years	26 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr W McEwan, Fairfax
Folio	11/1604
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev G Miller

23 January 1911

Patrick Matthew Keppel
Margaret Mary Boyle

Patrick Matthew Keppel
Margaret Mary Boyle
💍 1911/4478

Bachelor
Spinster

Dredgeman
Domestic Duties

28
36

Milton
Moneymore

1 year
35 years

Roman Catholic Church, Milton

11/4245

23 January 1911

Rev M Howard

No	2
Date of Notice	23 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Matthew Keppel	Margaret Mary Boyle
	💍 1911/4478
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dredgeman	Domestic Duties
Age	28	36
Dwelling Place	Milton	Moneymore
Length of Residence	1 year	35 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Milton
Folio	11/4245
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev M Howard

15 February 1911

William Percy Sherwill
Catherine Menhinick

William Percy Sherwill
Catherine Menhinick
💍 1911/4479

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Domestic Duties

31
31

Milton
Milton

1 year
1 month

Roman Catholic Church, Milton

11/4246

15 February 1911

Rev M Howard

No	3
Date of Notice	15 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Percy Sherwill	Catherine Menhinick
	💍 1911/4479
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Milton	Milton
Length of Residence	1 year	1 month
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Milton
Folio	11/4246
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev M Howard

20 February 1911

Andrew David Rendell
Mary Flett

Andom David Rendell
Mary Flett
💍 1911/2072

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
34

Milton
Milton

1 week
34 years

House of Mr H Flett, Table Hill

11/1648

20 February 1911

Rev T N Cuttie

No	4
Date of Notice	20 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew David Rendell	Mary Flett
BDM Match (93%)	Andom David Rendell	Mary Flett
	💍 1911/2072
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	34
Dwelling Place	Milton	Milton
Length of Residence	1 week	34 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr H Flett, Table Hill
Folio	11/1648
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev T N Cuttie

6 March 1911

Patrick Joseph Greaney
Mary Ryan

Patrick Joseph Greamy
Mary Ryan
💍 1911/4480

Bachelor
Spinster

Simplex Operator
Dressmaker

32
30

Balclutha
Milton

5 years
1 week

Roman Catholic Church, Milton

11/4247

6 March 1911

Rev M Howard

No	5
Date of Notice	6 March 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Joseph Greaney	Mary Ryan
BDM Match (95%)	Patrick Joseph Greamy	Mary Ryan
	💍 1911/4480
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Simplex Operator	Dressmaker
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Balclutha	Milton
Length of Residence	5 years	1 week
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Milton
Folio	11/4247
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev M Howard

7 March 1911

Joseph Hardcastle Hudson
Margaret Ann Fleming

Joseph Hardcastle Hudson
Margaret Ann Fleming
💍 1911/2144

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

32
40

Milton
Milburn

2 years
5 years

House of Mr T H Russell, Milburn

11/1598

7 March 1911

Rev J U Spence

No	6
Date of Notice	7 March 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Hardcastle Hudson	Margaret Ann Fleming
	💍 1911/2144
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	40
Dwelling Place	Milton	Milburn
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr T H Russell, Milburn
Folio	11/1598
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev J U Spence

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).