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 2693

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 December 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

116

1 October 1919

Joseph Butters
Emma Louisa Snushall

Joseph Butters
Emma Louisa Snushall
💍 1919/9545

Widower 8.11.1916
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

48
22

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
3 days

Residence of Rev E R Harries Harper Street Timaru

9213

1 October 1919

Rev. E. R. Harries, Presbyterian

No	116
Date of Notice	1 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Butters	Emma Louisa Snushall
	💍 1919/9545
Condition	Widower 8.11.1916	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	48	22
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev E R Harries Harper Street Timaru
Folio	9213
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. R. Harries, Presbyterian

117

1 October 1919

Percy George Shirley
Annie Lyons

Percy George Shirley
Annie Lyons
💍 1919/9546

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Dressmaker

29
25

Timaru
Timaru

4 months
4 months

Registrar's Office Timaru

9214

1 October 1919

J McKittrick, Registrar

No	117
Date of Notice	1 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy George Shirley	Annie Lyons
	💍 1919/9546
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Dressmaker
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Timaru
Folio	9214
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1919
Officiating Minister	J McKittrick, Registrar

118

6 October 1919

Charles Haddon Spurgeon Johnston
Catherine McFarlane

Charles Haddon Spurgeon Johnston
Catherine McFarlane
💍 1919/7707

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

29
25

St Andrews
St Albans

6 weeks
3 years

Presbyterian Church Shirley (Richmond)

7257

6 October 1919

Rev James Johnston, Presbyterian

No	118
Date of Notice	6 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Haddon Spurgeon Johnston	Catherine McFarlane
	💍 1919/7707
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	St Andrews	St Albans
Length of Residence	6 weeks	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Shirley (Richmond)
Folio	7257
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev James Johnston, Presbyterian

119

6 October 1919

Francis Sydney Davidson
Rita Maude Harris

Francis Sydney Davidson
Rita Maude Harris
💍 1919/7694

Bachelor
Spinster

Brewer

37
30

Timaru
Christchurch

6 months
30 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

7268

6 October 1919

Registrar of Marriages Christchurch

No	119
Date of Notice	6 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Sydney Davidson	Rita Maude Harris
	💍 1919/7694
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brewer
Age	37	30
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 months	30 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	7268
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Christchurch

120

13 October 1919

Angus Lyall
Gwendolyn Brown

Angus Lyall
Gwendolyn Brown
💍 1919/9547

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock agent
Household duties

22
20

St Andrews
Timaru

22 years
20 years

Residence of Mr H H Brown 62 High Street Timaru

9215

Henry Herbert Brown (Father)

13 October 1919

Rev. J. Dennis, Methodist

No	120
Date of Notice	13 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Angus Lyall	Gwendolyn Brown
	💍 1919/9547
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock agent	Household duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	St Andrews	Timaru
Length of Residence	22 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr H H Brown 62 High Street Timaru
Folio	9215
Consent	Henry Herbert Brown (Father)
Date of Certificate	13 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dennis, 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).