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 2703

District of Waimate Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar N. L. Thomas

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

18 January 1919

John Joseph Fitzmaurice
Mary Elizabeth Hanley

John Joseph Fitzmaurice
Mary Elizabeth Hanley
💍 1919/1762

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
22

Waimate
Waimate

26 years
3 years

Roman Catholic Church, Waimate

1518

18 January 1919

Rev. Father Peoples, Roman Catholic Priest

No	1
Date of Notice	18 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Fitzmaurice	Mary Elizabeth Hanley
	💍 1919/1762
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	26 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Waimate
Folio	1518
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Peoples, Roman Catholic Priest

27 January 1919

Douglas Berry Coupland
Ruth Victoria Jones

Douglas Berry Copland
Ruth Victoria Jones
💍 1919/1763

Bachelor
Spinster

University Lecturer
Domestic Duties

24
25

Hobart Tasmania
Waimate

2 years
25 years

Residence of Mrs F. W. S. Jones, High St, Waimate

1519

27 January 1919

Rev J. I. Clarke, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	27 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Berry Coupland	Ruth Victoria Jones
BDM Match (98%)	Douglas Berry Copland	Ruth Victoria Jones
	💍 1919/1763
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	University Lecturer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Hobart Tasmania	Waimate
Length of Residence	2 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs F. W. S. Jones, High St, Waimate
Folio	1519
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. I. Clarke, Presbyterian

22 February 1919

Harold Thomas Boyd
Catherine Harriet Nelson

Harold Thomas Boyd
Catherine Harriet Nelson
💍 1919/1765

Widower
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic Duties

34
28

Waimate
Waimate

10 years
28 years

Residence of Mrs W. Nelson, Innes St, Waimate

1520

22 February 1919

Rev A. N. Scotter, Methodist

No	3
Date of Notice	22 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Thomas Boyd	Catherine Harriet Nelson
	💍 1919/1765
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic Duties
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	10 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs W. Nelson, Innes St, Waimate
Folio	1520
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. N. Scotter, Methodist

24 February 1919

Frank Lawton Hindley
Frances Maude Hart

Frank Lawton Hindlay
Frances Maitle Hart
💍 1919/1766

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
School Teacher

38
25

Morven
Morven

3 days
since birth

Morven Church

1521

24 February 1919

Rev F. A. Crawshaw, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	24 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Lawton Hindley	Frances Maude Hart
BDM Match (90%)	Frank Lawton Hindlay	Frances Maitle Hart
	💍 1919/1766
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	School Teacher
Age	38	25
Dwelling Place	Morven	Morven
Length of Residence	3 days	since birth
Marriage Place	Morven Church
Folio	1521
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev F. A. Crawshaw, Church of England

28 February 1919

Herbert William Frederick Peters
Annie Isabella Begg

Herbert William Frederick Petterd
Annie Isabella Bigg
💍 1919/1767

Widower 12-12-16
Spinster

Printer
Domestic Duties

40
24

Christchurch
Waimate

16 years
4 days

Knox Church, Waimate

1522

28 February 1919

Rev J. I. Clarke, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	28 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert William Frederick Peters	Annie Isabella Begg
BDM Match (94%)	Herbert William Frederick Petterd	Annie Isabella Bigg
	💍 1919/1767
Condition	Widower 12-12-16	Spinster
Profession	Printer	Domestic Duties
Age	40	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Waimate
Length of Residence	16 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Waimate
Folio	1522
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. I. Clarke, 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).