Intentions to Marry, 1919 Cust to Dunedin

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840486, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1919 is bound in seven volumes (a to g) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1919f contains pages 2521-2942, covering districts from Cust to Dunedin

Page 2529

District of Ellesmere Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar J. J. Eccleston

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

1/19

7 January 1919

Harry Jeans Conway
Kathleen Nelly Henderson

Harry Jeans Conway
Kathleen Nelly Henderson
💍 1919/1695

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
20

Dunsandel
Dunsandel

12 years
20 years

Residence of Mrs. M. A. Henderson, Brookside

1449

M. A. Henderson, mother

7 January 1919

Rev. D. R. Rodger, Anglican

No	1/19
Date of Notice	7 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Jeans Conway	Kathleen Nelly Henderson
	💍 1919/1695
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Dunsandel	Dunsandel
Length of Residence	12 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. M. A. Henderson, Brookside
Folio	1449
Consent	M. A. Henderson, mother
Date of Certificate	7 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. R. Rodger, Anglican

2/19

20 January 1919

George Nathaniel Rogers
Matilda Ellen Paton

George Nathaniel Rogers
Matilda Ellen Paton
💍 1919/1696

Widower
Widow

Watersider
Domestic Duties

48
45

Lyttelton
Leeston

10 days
13 years

Registrar's Office, Leeston

1450

20 January 1919

J. J. Eccleston, Registrar

No	2/19
Date of Notice	20 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Nathaniel Rogers	Matilda Ellen Paton
	💍 1919/1696
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Watersider	Domestic Duties
Age	48	45
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Leeston
Length of Residence	10 days	13 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Leeston
Folio	1450
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1919
Officiating Minister	J. J. Eccleston, Registrar

3/19

17 February 1919

John Croat
Ellen Hannah McFarrow

John Croat
Ellen Hannah McJarrow
💍 1919/1704

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

37
21

Leeston
Leeston

4 months
21 years

Residence of John Croat, Leeston

1451

17 February 1919

Rev. Wm Laycock, Methodist

No	3/19
Date of Notice	17 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Croat	Ellen Hannah McFarrow
BDM Match (98%)	John Croat	Ellen Hannah McJarrow
	💍 1919/1704
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	37	21
Dwelling Place	Leeston	Leeston
Length of Residence	4 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Croat, Leeston
Folio	1451
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Laycock, Methodist

4/19

21 February 1919

William Henry Washbourne
Florence Annie Taylor

William Henry Washbourne
Florence Annie Taylor
💍 1919/1715

Bachelor
Spinster

Binder & Twine maker
Domestic Duties

21
18

Selwyn
Brookside

21 years
18 years

Residence of Mrs. A. Taylor, Brookside

1452

Arthur Taylor, father

21 February 1919

Rev. Wm Laycock, Methodist

No	4/19
Date of Notice	21 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Washbourne	Florence Annie Taylor
	💍 1919/1715
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Binder & Twine maker	Domestic Duties
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Selwyn	Brookside
Length of Residence	21 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. A. Taylor, Brookside
Folio	1452
Consent	Arthur Taylor, father
Date of Certificate	21 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Laycock, Methodist

5/19

3 March 1919

Patrick James Nelson
Julia Harney

Patrick James Nelson
Julia Harney
💍 1919/1721

Bachelor
Spinster

Canvasser & Collector
Domestic Duties

36
37

Christchurch
Southbridge

5 days
7 weeks

Catholic Church, Southbridge

1453

3 March 1919

Rev. T. Creed, Roman Catholic

No	5/19
Date of Notice	3 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick James Nelson	Julia Harney
	💍 1919/1721
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Canvasser & Collector	Domestic Duties
Age	36	37
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Southbridge
Length of Residence	5 days	7 weeks
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Southbridge
Folio	1453
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Creed, Roman Catholic

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).