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 462

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 1911

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

401

13 July 1911

Henry Albert Davidson
Adelaide Ellen Robertson

Henry Albert Davidson
Adelaide Ellen Robertson
💍 1911/5166

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
mill hand

28
27

Dunedin
Roslyn

4 years
10 years

In St Johns Church

11/4996

13 July 1911

V. S. B. King

No	401
Date of Notice	13 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Albert Davidson	Adelaide Ellen Robertson
	💍 1911/5166
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	mill hand
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Roslyn
Length of Residence	4 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In St Johns Church
Folio	11/4996
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1911
Officiating Minister	V. S. B. King

402

14 July 1911

Nils Charles Johanson
Margaret Coker

Nils Charles Johansen
Margaret Coker
💍 1911/6081

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

32
20

Dunedin
Caversham

8 days
7 years

In The Presbyterian Church

11/5968

Ellen Barrett, mother

14 July 1911

D. Dutton

No	402
Date of Notice	14 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nils Charles Johanson	Margaret Coker
BDM Match (98%)	Nils Charles Johansen	Margaret Coker
	💍 1911/6081
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Caversham
Length of Residence	8 days	7 years
Marriage Place	In The Presbyterian Church
Folio	11/5968
Consent	Ellen Barrett, mother
Date of Certificate	14 July 1911
Officiating Minister	D. Dutton

403

14 July 1911

Samuel Orr Ritchie
Jean Marion Wilson

Samuel Orr Ritchie
Jean Marion Wilson
💍 1911/6293

Bachelor
Spinster

labourer
dressmaker

24
20

South Dunedin
Dunedin

3 weeks
12 years

In The house of Mr W. Wilson, 67 Stafford Street, Dunedin

11/6242

William Wilson, father

14 July 1911

R. Fairmaid

No	403
Date of Notice	14 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Orr Ritchie	Jean Marion Wilson
	💍 1911/6293
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	labourer	dressmaker
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 weeks	12 years
Marriage Place	In The house of Mr W. Wilson, 67 Stafford Street, Dunedin
Folio	11/6242
Consent	William Wilson, father
Date of Certificate	14 July 1911
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

404

15 July 1911

James Parfitt
Clara Ellen Woodward

James Parfitt
Clara Ellen Woodward
💍 1911/5162

Bachelor
Spinster

Pithead man

29
23

Mornington
Mornington

3 days
1 month

In St Marys Church, Mornington

11/4992

15 July 1911

H. G. Gould

No	404
Date of Notice	15 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Parfitt	Clara Ellen Woodward
	💍 1911/5162
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pithead man
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Mornington
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	In St Marys Church, Mornington
Folio	11/4992
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1911
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gould

405

15 July 1911

Benjamin James Taylor
Isabella Lydia Williams

Benjamin James Taylor
Isabella Lydia Williams
💍 1911/6378

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool buyer

31
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 months
22 years

In The house of the Rev R. Waddell, 342 High Street, Dunedin

11/6147

15 July 1911

R. Waddell

No	405
Date of Notice	15 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin James Taylor	Isabella Lydia Williams
	💍 1911/6378
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool buyer
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 months	22 years
Marriage Place	In The house of the Rev R. Waddell, 342 High Street, Dunedin
Folio	11/6147
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1911
Officiating Minister	R. Waddell

406

15 July 1911

Edward Coster
Mildred Mary Scott

Edward Christie Coster
Mildred Mary Scott
💍 1911/8892

Bachelor
Spinster

Bottler
Machinist

24
25

Dunedin
Caversham

18 years
10 years

In The Church of Christ, South Dunedin

11/5151

15 July 1911

W. D. Little

No	406
Date of Notice	15 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Coster	Mildred Mary Scott
BDM Match (80%)	Edward Christie Coster	Mildred Mary Scott
	💍 1911/8892
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bottler	Machinist
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Caversham
Length of Residence	18 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In The Church of Christ, South Dunedin
Folio	11/5151
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1911
Officiating Minister	W. D. Little

407

17 July 1911

John Hendry Hamilton
Beatrice Emma Preen

John Henry Hamilton
Beatrice Emma Preen
💍 1911/5524

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

29
30

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
30 years

In All Saints Church

11/5362

17 July 1911

A. R. Fitchett

No	407
Date of Notice	17 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hendry Hamilton	Beatrice Emma Preen
BDM Match (98%)	John Henry Hamilton	Beatrice Emma Preen
	💍 1911/5524
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	In All Saints Church
Folio	11/5362
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1911
Officiating Minister	A. R. Fitchett

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).