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 2671

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar J. M. Kittrick

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

21 March 1919

Robert Randolph McAlister
Laurel Grace Barker Storey

Robert Randolph McAlister
Laurel Grace Barker Slorey
💍 1919/1754

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxi proprietor
Book-keeper

31
26

Timaru
Timaru

7 years
3 years

Methodist Church, Woodland Street, Timaru

1510

21 March 1919

Rev. R. J. Liddell, Methodist

No	21
Date of Notice	21 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Randolph McAlister	Laurel Grace Barker Storey
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Randolph McAlister	Laurel Grace Barker Slorey
	💍 1919/1754
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxi proprietor	Book-keeper
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	7 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Woodland Street, Timaru
Folio	1510
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Liddell, Methodist

22 March 1919

Israel Mirfield
Edith Kohn

Israel Mirifield
Edith Kohu
💍 1919/1755

Widower
Widow

Architect
Music teacher

57
43

Timaru
Timaru

3 weeks
4 years

Residence of Mr. J. W. Holgate, 139 North Street, Timaru

1511

22 March 1919

Rev. T. A. Joughin, Methodist

No	22
Date of Notice	22 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Israel Mirfield	Edith Kohn
BDM Match (92%)	Israel Mirifield	Edith Kohu
	💍 1919/1755
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Architect	Music teacher
Age	57	43
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 weeks	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. W. Holgate, 139 North Street, Timaru
Folio	1511
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. A. Joughin, Methodist

23 March 1919

Walter Herbert Jaquiery
Beatrice Agnes Dew

Walter Herbert Jaquiery
Beatrice Agnes Dew
💍 1919/1756

Widower
Spinster

Grain and Produce Grader
Shirt-maker

48
33

Timaru
Timaru

6 years
23 years

St Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

1512

23 March 1919

Rev. J. H. Rogers, Anglican

No	23
Date of Notice	23 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Herbert Jaquiery	Beatrice Agnes Dew
	💍 1919/1756
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Grain and Produce Grader	Shirt-maker
Age	48	33
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	6 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	1512
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Rogers, Anglican

24 March 1919

Edgar Russell
Kathleen Elizabeth Twining

Edgar Russell
Kathleen Elizabeth Twining
💍 1919/1757

Widower
Spinster

Fireman
Domestic

42
29

Timaru
Timaru

4 weeks
3 days

Residence of Rev. T. A. Joughin, Butler Street, Timaru

1513

24 March 1919

Rev. T. A. Joughin, Methodist

No	24
Date of Notice	24 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Russell	Kathleen Elizabeth Twining
	💍 1919/1757
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Domestic
Age	42	29
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 weeks	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. T. A. Joughin, Butler Street, Timaru
Folio	1513
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. A. Joughin, Methodist

25 March 1919

Linford George Stenhouse
Maggie Myrtle Vallance

Linford George Stenhouse
Maggie Myrtle Vallance
💍 1919/1758

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger
Domestic Duties

24
22

Dunedin
St Andrews

24 years
19 years

Presbyterian Church, St Andrews

1514

25 March 1919

Rev. J. Usher, Presbyterian

No	25
Date of Notice	25 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Linford George Stenhouse	Maggie Myrtle Vallance
	💍 1919/1758
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger	Domestic Duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	St Andrews
Length of Residence	24 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, St Andrews
Folio	1514
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Usher, Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).