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 2847

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar W. Maxwell

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

303

26 June 1919

David Miller
Isabella Simpson

David Miller
Isabella Simpson
💍 1919/3010

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

23
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 year
3 days

House of J. W. Leitch, 194 Castle Street, Dunedin.

2819

26 June 1919

R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

No	303
Date of Notice	26 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Miller	Isabella Simpson
	💍 1919/3010
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 year	3 days
Marriage Place	House of J. W. Leitch, 194 Castle Street, Dunedin.
Folio	2819
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 June 1919
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

304

26 June 1919

Aylmer Eton Purdie
Mary Caroline Power McGregor

Aylmer Eton Purdie
Mary Caroline Power McGregor
💍 1919/3012

Bachelor
Spinster

Chef

25
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

20 years
3 years

House of A. E. Jones, 13 Duncan Street, Dunedin.

2820

A. E. Jones (guardian)

26 June 1919

S. G. Griffiths, Congregational

No	304
Date of Notice	26 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Aylmer Eton Purdie	Mary Caroline Power McGregor
	💍 1919/3012
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chef
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	3 years
Marriage Place	House of A. E. Jones, 13 Duncan Street, Dunedin.
Folio	2820
Consent	A. E. Jones (guardian)
Date of Certificate	26 June 1919
Officiating Minister	S. G. Griffiths, Congregational

305

27 June 1919

Thomas William Samuel Hall
Caroline Hickey

Thomas William Samuel Hall
Caroline Hickey
💍 1919/3013

Bachelor
Spinster

Bag and trunk maker

26
27

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 months
2 years

House of R. S. Gray, 385 Leith Street, Dunedin.

2821

27 June 1919

R. S. Gray, Baptist

No	305
Date of Notice	27 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Samuel Hall	Caroline Hickey
	💍 1919/3013
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bag and trunk maker
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 months	2 years
Marriage Place	House of R. S. Gray, 385 Leith Street, Dunedin.
Folio	2821
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1919
Officiating Minister	R. S. Gray, Baptist

306

27 June 1919

John Blyth Austin
Dorothy Carroll

John Blyth Austin
Dorothy Carroll
💍 1919/3014

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist

24
24

Auckland
Dunedin

3 months
24 years

Presbyterian Church, Mornington.

2822

27 June 1919

W. Trotter, Presbyterian

No	306
Date of Notice	27 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Blyth Austin	Dorothy Carroll
	💍 1919/3014
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 months	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Mornington.
Folio	2822
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1919
Officiating Minister	W. Trotter, Presbyterian

307

27 June 1919

Charles John Forsyth
Christina Catherine McBryde

Charles John Forsyth
Christina Catherine McBryde
💍 1919/3015

Divorced Decree Absolute 11 June 1919
Widow 7 July 1914

Farmer

45
33

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
1 month

Methodist Church, Octagon, Dunedin.

2823

27 June 1919

C. Eaton, Methodist

No	307
Date of Notice	27 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles John Forsyth	Christina Catherine McBryde
	💍 1919/3015
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 11 June 1919	Widow 7 July 1914
Profession	Farmer
Age	45	33
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Octagon, Dunedin.
Folio	2823
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1919
Officiating Minister	C. Eaton, 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).