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 2857

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar Chas. M. [illegible]

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

344

15 July 1919

Robert Johnston Anderson
Agnes Mary Jowsey

Robert Johnston Anderson
Agnes Mary Jowrey
💍 1919/5253

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

24
27

Dunedin
Dunedin

24 years
10 years

Presbyterian Church, South Dunedin

4486

15 July 1919

R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

No	344
Date of Notice	15 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Johnston Anderson	Agnes Mary Jowsey
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Johnston Anderson	Agnes Mary Jowrey
	💍 1919/5253
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	24 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, South Dunedin
Folio	4486
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1919
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

345

15 July 1919

William Gibson Peterson
Jane McLennan

William Gibson Peterson
Jane McLennan
💍 1919/5254

Bachelor
Spinster

Boot operator

24
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

18 years
1 year

Knox Church, Dunedin

4487

15 July 1919

G. H. Jupp, Presbyterian

No	345
Date of Notice	15 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gibson Peterson	Jane McLennan
	💍 1919/5254
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boot operator
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	18 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Dunedin
Folio	4487
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1919
Officiating Minister	G. H. Jupp, Presbyterian

346

15 July 1919

Robert Erskine McLellan
Mary Pagan

Robert Erskine McLellan
Mary Pagan
💍 1919/5255

Bachelor
Spinster

Jockey

18
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 months
6 months

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

4488

J. McLennan (Father), J. Pagan (Father)

15 July 1919

H. Maxwell, Acting Registrar

No	346
Date of Notice	15 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Erskine McLellan	Mary Pagan
	💍 1919/5255
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jockey
Age	18	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	4488
Consent	J. McLennan (Father), J. Pagan (Father)
Date of Certificate	15 July 1919
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell, Acting Registrar

347

16 July 1919

Samuel McBratney
Agnes Buchan

Samuel McBratney
Agnes Buchan
💍 1919/5256

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
22 years

Congregational Church, Leith Street, Dunedin

4489

16 July 1919

A. H. Wallace, Congregational

No	347
Date of Notice	16 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel McBratney	Agnes Buchan
	💍 1919/5256
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Leith Street, Dunedin
Folio	4489
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1919
Officiating Minister	A. H. Wallace, Congregational

348

16 July 1919

William Frederick Eddy Bennetts
Ethel Alexandrina Foster

William Fredrick Eddy Bennetts
Ethel Alexandrina Foster
💍 1919/5257

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruitgrower

21
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 days
6 weeks

House of Rev. C. Eaton, 56 Royal Terrace, Dunedin

4490

16 July 1919

C. Eaton, Methodist

No	348
Date of Notice	16 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Frederick Eddy Bennetts	Ethel Alexandrina Foster
BDM Match (98%)	William Fredrick Eddy Bennetts	Ethel Alexandrina Foster
	💍 1919/5257
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruitgrower
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	House of Rev. C. Eaton, 56 Royal Terrace, Dunedin
Folio	4490
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 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).