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 2709

District of Waimate Quarter ending 30 September 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

3 July 1919

John Law
Eleanor Mary Ann Atwill

John Law
Eleanor Mary Ann Atwill
💍 1919/6810

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

30
20

Waimate
Waimate

9 years
20 years

Residence of Bridegroom, 224 High Street, Waimate

6319

John Atwill, Father

3 July 1919

A. N. Scotter, Methodist

No	22
Date of Notice	3 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Law	Eleanor Mary Ann Atwill
	💍 1919/6810
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	9 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bridegroom, 224 High Street, Waimate
Folio	6319
Consent	John Atwill, Father
Date of Certificate	3 July 1919
Officiating Minister	A. N. Scotter, Methodist

7 July 1919

David John Gunn
Ethel May Willetts

David John Gunn
Ethel May Willetts
💍 1919/6812

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Confectioner

31
31

Waimate
Waimate

3 days
14 years

Residence of Mr. John Baikie, Morven

6320

7 July 1919

Robert Dickie, Presbyterian

No	23
Date of Notice	7 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David John Gunn	Ethel May Willetts
	💍 1919/6812
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Confectioner
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	3 days	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. John Baikie, Morven
Folio	6320
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Robert Dickie, Presbyterian

8 July 1919

Archibald Currie Middleton
Catherine Ellen Ruddenklau

Archibald Currie Middleton
Catherine Ellen Ruddenklau
💍 1919/7162

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Household Duties

38
22

Waimate
Waimate

13 years
22 years

Saint Augustines Church, Waimate

6673

8 July 1919

John Awdry Julius, Church of England

No	24
Date of Notice	8 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Currie Middleton	Catherine Ellen Ruddenklau
	💍 1919/7162
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Household Duties
Age	38	22
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	13 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Saint Augustines Church, Waimate
Folio	6673
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1919
Officiating Minister	John Awdry Julius, Church of England

28 July 1919

Malcolm McColl
Annie Christina Bell

Malcolm McColl
Annie Christina Bell
💍 1919/6813

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock agent
Domestic Duties

29
30

Waimate
Waimate

5 days
3 months

Knox Church, Waimate

6321

28 July 1919

F. J. Usher, Presbyterian

No	25
Date of Notice	28 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malcolm McColl	Annie Christina Bell
	💍 1919/6813
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock agent	Domestic Duties
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	5 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Waimate
Folio	6321
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1919
Officiating Minister	F. J. Usher, Presbyterian

11 August 1919

John Joseph O'Connell
Julia Sullivan

John Joseph O'Connell
Julia Sullivan
💍 1919/6814

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

34
33

Makikihi
Makikihi

4 days
33 years

St. Mary's Church, Makikihi

6322

11 August 1919

Father Stewart, Catholic Priest

No	26
Date of Notice	11 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph O'Connell	Julia Sullivan
	💍 1919/6814
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Makikihi	Makikihi
Length of Residence	4 days	33 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Makikihi
Folio	6322
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Father Stewart, Catholic Priest

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).