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 2677

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 June 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

5 May 1919

Alexander Scoullar
Louisa Nora Collins

Alexander Scoullar
Louisa Nora Collins
💍 1919/3911

Bachelor
Spinster

Retired furniture salesman
Housekeeper

43
33

Timaru
Timaru

5 years
3 years

Residence of Mrs Scoullar, 184 North Street, Timaru

3922

5 May 1919

Rev J. Tubman, Roman Catholic

No	50
Date of Notice	5 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Scoullar	Louisa Nora Collins
	💍 1919/3911
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Retired furniture salesman	Housekeeper
Age	43	33
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	5 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Scoullar, 184 North Street, Timaru
Folio	3922
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Tubman, Roman Catholic

5 May 1919

Hugh Gibson
Kate Ann Smith

Hugh Gibson
Kate Ann Smith
💍 1919/3912

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

32
33

Washdyke
Washdyke

5 days
30 years

Brides Residence, Washdyke

3923

5 May 1919

Rev A. Begg, Presbyterian

No	51
Date of Notice	5 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Gibson	Kate Ann Smith
	💍 1919/3912
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	32	33
Dwelling Place	Washdyke	Washdyke
Length of Residence	5 days	30 years
Marriage Place	Brides Residence, Washdyke
Folio	3923
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Begg, Presbyterian

13 May 1919

John Grubb Rattray
Esther Jane Kelly

John Grubb Rattray
Esther Jane Kelly
💍 1919/3913

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Music-teacher

37
37

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
37 years

Congregational Church, North Street, Timaru

3924

13 May 1919

Rev T. W. Potts, Congregationalist

No	52
Date of Notice	13 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Grubb Rattray	Esther Jane Kelly
	💍 1919/3913
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Music-teacher
Age	37	37
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	37 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, North Street, Timaru
Folio	3924
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev T. W. Potts, Congregationalist

14 May 1919

Stratford Smith
Myrtle Eleanor Richards

Stratford Smith
Myrtle Eleanor Richards
💍 1919/3914

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner
Domestic

22
22

Pareora
Pareora

5 months
13 years

St Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

3925

14 May 1919

Rev J. H. Rogers, Anglican

No	53
Date of Notice	14 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stratford Smith	Myrtle Eleanor Richards
	💍 1919/3914
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Domestic
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Pareora	Pareora
Length of Residence	5 months	13 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	3925
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. H. Rogers, Anglican

14 May 1919

Albert Robert Beck
Violet Christina Harold

Albert Robert Beck
Violet Christinia Harold
💍 1919/4702

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

27
27

Timaru
Timaru

4 months
18 years

St Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

3926

14 May 1919

Rev J. H. Rogers, Anglican

No	54
Date of Notice	14 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Robert Beck	Violet Christina Harold
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Robert Beck	Violet Christinia Harold
	💍 1919/4702
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 months	18 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	3926
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. H. Rogers, Anglican

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).