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 410

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 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

9 February 1911

Robert Brownlie Johnstone
Mary Elizabeth Grant

Robert Brownlie Johnstone
Mary Elizabeth Grant
💍 1911/2216

Bachelor
Spinster

Car Conductor
Dressmaker

23 years
23 years

North East Valley
West Harbour

1 month
18 years

In the house of Mr. G. Grant, 297 Main Road, West Harbour

11/174

9 February 1911

R. Fairmaid

No	64
Date of Notice	9 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Brownlie Johnstone	Mary Elizabeth Grant
	💍 1911/2216
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Car Conductor	Dressmaker
Age	23 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	North East Valley	West Harbour
Length of Residence	1 month	18 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. G. Grant, 297 Main Road, West Harbour
Folio	11/174
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1911
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

11 February 1911

Francis Walter Allan
Esther Monk

Francis Walter Allan
Esther Monk
💍 1911/1590

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway porter
Dressmaker

27 years
24 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
24 years

In the house of Mr. E. Monk, 32 Eden Street, Dunedin

11/1136

11 February 1911

W. I. Hastic

No	65
Date of Notice	11 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Walter Allan	Esther Monk
	💍 1911/1590
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway porter	Dressmaker
Age	27 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	24 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. E. Monk, 32 Eden Street, Dunedin
Folio	11/1136
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1911
Officiating Minister	W. I. Hastic

11 February 1911

John Edwards
Daisy Blanche Stanley

John Edwards
Daisy Blanche Stanley
💍 1911/1700

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner

18 years
18 years

Caversham
Mornington

4 years
5 years

In the house of Mr. W. B. Stanley, 5 Paterson Street, Mornington

11/1247

William Edwards, father of groom; William Burke Stanley, father of bride

11 February 1911

J. W. Vealie

No	66
Date of Notice	11 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edwards	Daisy Blanche Stanley
	💍 1911/1700
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner
Age	18 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Mornington
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. W. B. Stanley, 5 Paterson Street, Mornington
Folio	11/1247
Consent	William Edwards, father of groom; William Burke Stanley, father of bride
Date of Certificate	11 February 1911
Officiating Minister	J. W. Vealie

13 February 1911

John Millar Graham
Christina McLeod

John Millar Graham
Christina McLeod
💍 1911/1885

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman

24 years
18 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

24 years
3 years

In Knox Church, Dunedin

11/1104

Mary McLeod, Mother

13 February 1911

R. E. Davies

No	67
Date of Notice	13 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Millar Graham	Christina McLeod
	💍 1911/1885
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman
Age	24 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	24 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In Knox Church, Dunedin
Folio	11/1104
Consent	Mary McLeod, Mother
Date of Certificate	13 February 1911
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies

13 February 1911

Leslie Farquhar Cleghorn
Olive Salome Morton

Leslie Farquahar Cleghorn
Olive Salome Morton
💍 1911/1583

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

24 years
30 years

Roslyn
Roslyn

3 days
3 days

In the Tabernacle, Great King Street, Dunedin

11/1135

13 February 1911

W. I. Hastic

No	68
Date of Notice	13 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Farquhar Cleghorn	Olive Salome Morton
BDM Match (98%)	Leslie Farquahar Cleghorn	Olive Salome Morton
	💍 1911/1583
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	24 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Roslyn
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Tabernacle, Great King Street, Dunedin
Folio	11/1135
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1911
Officiating Minister	W. I. Hastic

13 February 1911

Loui Wah
Mary Amelia Herbert

Loui Wah
Mary Amelia Herbert
💍 1911/370

Bachelor
Spinster

Laundryman

41 years
29 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

15 years
4 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

11/1063

13 February 1911

H. Maxwell

No	69
Date of Notice	13 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Loui Wah	Mary Amelia Herbert
	💍 1911/370
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laundryman
Age	41 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	15 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	11/1063
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1911
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

14 February 1911

John Francis Gensik
Pollie Mackey

John Francis Gensik
Pollie MacKey
💍 1911/371

Widower
Spinster

Seaman

37 years
23 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

7 years
8 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

11/1064

14 February 1911

H. Maxwell

No	70
Date of Notice	14 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Francis Gensik	Pollie Mackey
BDM Match (96%)	John Francis Gensik	Pollie MacKey
	💍 1911/371
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	37 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 years	8 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	11/1064
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1911
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

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).