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 2669

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar J. McKittrick

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

10 February 1919

Robert William George Keene
Frances Lydia McConachy

Robert William George Keene
Frances Lydia McConachy
💍 1919/1204

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Typiste

30
29

Timaru
Timaru

30 years
14 years

Methodist Church Woodlands Street Timaru

1500

10 February 1919

Rev R. J. Liddell, Methodist

No	11
Date of Notice	10 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William George Keene	Frances Lydia McConachy
	💍 1919/1204
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Typiste
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	30 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Woodlands Street Timaru
Folio	1500
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev R. J. Liddell, Methodist

10 February 1919

Patrick Young
Anne Grogan

Patrick Young
Anne Grogan
💍 1919/1753

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

31
26

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
1 week

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

1501

10 February 1919

Rev. J. Tubman, Roman Catholic

No	12
Date of Notice	10 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Young	Anne Grogan
	💍 1919/1753
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	1 week
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	1501
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Tubman, Roman Catholic

12 February 1919

Paul Foster Brodrick
Lily Knubley

Paul Foster Brodrick
Lily Knubley
💍 1919/1764

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

34
32

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
32 years

St Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

1502

12 February 1919

Rev. J. H. Rogers, Anglican

No	13
Date of Notice	12 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Paul Foster Brodrick	Lily Knubley
	💍 1919/1764
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	32 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	1502
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Rogers, Anglican

15 February 1919

William Thomas Avery
Gladys Vera Heard

William Thomas Avery
Gladys Vera Heard
💍 1919/1771

Widower 14. 9. 1917
Widow 6. 2. 1917

Cooper
Housekeeper

53
23

Timaru
Timaru

12 years
1 1/2 years

St Marys Anglican Church, Timaru

1503

15 February 1919

Rev J. H. Rogers, Anglican

No	14
Date of Notice	15 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Avery	Gladys Vera Heard
	💍 1919/1771
Condition	Widower 14. 9. 1917	Widow 6. 2. 1917
Profession	Cooper	Housekeeper
Age	53	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	12 years	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St Marys Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	1503
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. H. Rogers, Anglican

22 February 1919

George Tavener
Mary Esler

George Tavener
Mary Esler
💍 1919/1772

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

30
33

Timaru
Timaru

30 year
12 years

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

1504

22 February 1919

Rev. E. R. Harries, Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	22 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Tavener	Mary Esler
	💍 1919/1772
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	30	33
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	30 year	12 years
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	1504
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. R. Harries, Presbyterian

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).