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 2673

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 June 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

4 April 1919

Thomas Philpot
Muriel Gladys Taylor

Thomas Philpot
Muriel Gladys Taylor
💍 1919/3915

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic duties

32
21

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
10 days

Registrar's Office Timaru

3903

4 April 1919

J. McKittrick, Registrar

No	30
Date of Notice	4 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Philpot	Muriel Gladys Taylor
	💍 1919/3915
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic duties
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Timaru
Folio	3903
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1919
Officiating Minister	J. McKittrick, Registrar

7 April 1919

James Innes
Moana Helen Timaru Rhodes

James Innes
Moana Helen Timaru Rhodes
💍 1919/3916

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep-farmer
Domestic

42
24

Timaru
Timaru

9 days
24 years

St Mary's Anglican Church Timaru

3904

7 April 1919

Rev J. H. Rogers, Anglican

No	31
Date of Notice	7 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Innes	Moana Helen Timaru Rhodes
	💍 1919/3916
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep-farmer	Domestic
Age	42	24
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	9 days	24 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Anglican Church Timaru
Folio	3904
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. H. Rogers, Anglican

9 April 1919

Clarence Frederick Dyer
Kararaane-Blanche Bell

Clarence Frederick Dyer
Kararaane Blanche Bell
💍 1919/3917

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor and Civil Engineer
Domestic

24
23

Timaru
Timaru

1 month
6 weeks

Registrar's Office Timaru

3905

9 April 1919

J. McKittrick, Registrar

No	32
Date of Notice	9 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Frederick Dyer	Kararaane-Blanche Bell
BDM Match (98%)	Clarence Frederick Dyer	Kararaane Blanche Bell
	💍 1919/3917
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor and Civil Engineer	Domestic
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	1 month	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Timaru
Folio	3905
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1919
Officiating Minister	J. McKittrick, Registrar

9 April 1919

David Roy Thomas Smith
Margaret Catherine Kelly

David Roy Thomas Smith
Margaret Catherine Kelly
💍 1919/3918

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic

27
27

Timaru
Timaru

3 years
3 years

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

3906

9 April 1919

Rev J. Tubman, Roman Catholic

No	33
Date of Notice	9 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Roy Thomas Smith	Margaret Catherine Kelly
	💍 1919/3918
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	3906
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Tubman, Roman Catholic

10 April 1919

Adam Watson
Rose Emma Addison

Adam Watson
Rose Emma Addison
💍 1919/3919

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Domestic duties

35
26

Timaru
Timaru

3 weeks
8 years

Residence of Mr William Clay 54 Selwyn Street Timaru

3907

10 April 1919

Rev R. J. Liddell, Methodist

No	34
Date of Notice	10 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adam Watson	Rose Emma Addison
	💍 1919/3919
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Domestic duties
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 weeks	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr William Clay 54 Selwyn Street Timaru
Folio	3907
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev R. J. Liddell, 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).