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 2683

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 September 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

2 July 1919

William Searle
Mabel Elizabeth Gardiner

William Searle
Mabel Elizabeth Gardiner
💍 1919/6836

Bachelor
Divorced Date of Decree absolute 11.6.1915

Labourer
Domestic

33
35

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
3 days

Residence of Mr W. J. Clarke, 29 Archer Street, Timaru

6277

2 July 1919

Rev E. R. Harries, Presbyterian

No	72
Date of Notice	2 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Searle	Mabel Elizabeth Gardiner
	💍 1919/6836
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Date of Decree absolute 11.6.1915
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	33	35
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr W. J. Clarke, 29 Archer Street, Timaru
Folio	6277
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev E. R. Harries, Presbyterian

2 July 1919

Charles Harold Dyhrberg
Beatrice Mary Elvina Wilson

Charles Harold Dyhrberg
Beatrice Mary Elvina Wilson
💍 1919/6843

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook
Domestic

29
21

Timaru
Timaru

6 months
3 months

Registrar's Office, Timaru

6278

2 July 1919

J. M. Kittrick, Registrar

No	73
Date of Notice	2 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Harold Dyhrberg	Beatrice Mary Elvina Wilson
	💍 1919/6843
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook	Domestic
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	6 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Timaru
Folio	6278
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1919
Officiating Minister	J. M. Kittrick, Registrar

5 July 1919

William Harold Shivas
Drusilla Berry

William Harold Shivas
Drusilla Berry
💍 1919/6844

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool-dyer
Domestic

26
24

Timaru
Timaru

3 years
3 1/2 years

Presbyterian Manse, Harper Street, Timaru

6279

5 July 1919

Rev E. R. Harries, Presbyterian

No	74
Date of Notice	5 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Harold Shivas	Drusilla Berry
	💍 1919/6844
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool-dyer	Domestic
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 years	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Harper Street, Timaru
Folio	6279
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev E. R. Harries, Presbyterian

8 July 1919

Albert Ernest Wallace
Evelina Mona McIntosh

Albert Ernest Wallace
Evelina Mona McIntosh
💍 1919/6845

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

24
21

Timaru
Timaru

13 years
21 years

Residence of John McIntosh, 37 Matilda Street, Timaru

6280

8 July 1919

Rev E. R. Harries, Presbyterian

No	75
Date of Notice	8 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Ernest Wallace	Evelina Mona McIntosh
	💍 1919/6845
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	13 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John McIntosh, 37 Matilda Street, Timaru
Folio	6280
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev E. R. Harries, Presbyterian

9 July 1919

William Walter Best
Margaret Anderson Robertson

William Walter Best
Margaret Anderson Robertson
💍 1919/6846

William James Keast
Mary McGregor Robertson
💍 1919/9507

William Alfred Smith
Margaret Robertson
💍 1919/9336

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Typiste

24
24

Timaru
Timaru

24 years
14 years

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

6281

9 July 1919

Rev E. R. Harries, Presbyterian

No	76
Date of Notice	9 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Walter Best	Margaret Anderson Robertson
	💍 1919/6846
BDM Match (62%)	William James Keast	Mary McGregor Robertson
	💍 1919/9507
BDM Match (61%)	William Alfred Smith	Margaret Robertson
	💍 1919/9336
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Typiste
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	24 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	6281
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 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).