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 2539

District of Geraldine Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar G. H. [illegible]

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 April 1919

Robert Henry Hammond
Amy Violet Thatcher

Robert Henry Hammond
Amy Violet Thatcher
💍 1919/3939

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

30
29

Temuka
Woodbury

Life
Life

Church of England, Woodbury

3850

9 April 1919

Rev S. Hamilton, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	9 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Henry Hammond	Amy Violet Thatcher
	💍 1919/3939
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Woodbury
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Church of England, Woodbury
Folio	3850
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev S. Hamilton, Church of England

11 April 1919

William Earl Lyons
Evelyn Wiltshire

William Earl Lyons
Evelyn Wiltshire
💍 1919/3947

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Draper's assistant

26
29

Geraldine
Geraldine

8 years
4 years

Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine

3851

11 April 1919

Rev H. G. Bowers, Roman Catholic

No	7
Date of Notice	11 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Earl Lyons	Evelyn Wiltshire
	💍 1919/3947
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Draper's assistant
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Geraldine
Length of Residence	8 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine
Folio	3851
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Bowers, Roman Catholic

16 April 1919

Cecil McDonald
Emma Florence Platt

Cecil McDonald
Emma Florence Pratt
💍 1919/3958

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy Farmer
Domestic duties

23
24

Geraldine
Geraldine

3 days
Life

Methodist Church, Geraldine

3852

16 April 1919

Rev G. P. Hunt, Methodist

No	8
Date of Notice	16 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil McDonald	Emma Florence Platt
BDM Match (97%)	Cecil McDonald	Emma Florence Pratt
	💍 1919/3958
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Geraldine
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Geraldine
Folio	3852
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev G. P. Hunt, Methodist

29 April 1919

Daniel James Doyle
Kathleen Stella Story

Daniel James Doyle
Kathleen Stella Story
💍 1919/3964

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic duties

30
20

Orari
Orari

5 days
6 weeks

Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine

3853

William Henry Story, Father

29 April 1919

Rev H. G. Bowers, Roman Catholic

No	9
Date of Notice	29 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel James Doyle	Kathleen Stella Story
	💍 1919/3964
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic duties
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Orari	Orari
Length of Residence	5 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine
Folio	3853
Consent	William Henry Story, Father
Date of Certificate	29 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Bowers, Roman Catholic

26 May 1919

Joseph Stockton Jones
Eliza Constance Davie

Joseph Stockton Jones
Eliza Constance Davie
💍 1919/3965

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic duties

19
20

Gapes Valley
Gapes Valley

7 years
Life

Residence of Mr J. Davie, Gapes Valley

3854

Edith Jones, mother; Sarah Jane Davie, mother

26 May 1919

Rev G. P. Hunt, Methodist

No	10
Date of Notice	26 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Stockton Jones	Eliza Constance Davie
	💍 1919/3965
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Gapes Valley	Gapes Valley
Length of Residence	7 years	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. Davie, Gapes Valley
Folio	3854
Consent	Edith Jones, mother; Sarah Jane Davie, mother
Date of Certificate	26 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev G. P. Hunt, Methodist

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).