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 2891

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar A. R. Kennedy

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

514

15 October 1919

William Johnstone
Rachel Weatherall

William Johnstone
Rachel Weatherall
💍 1919/7623

Bachelor
Widow (4 November 1916)

Farm Labourer

34
29

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 weeks
2 weeks

Registrar's Office Dunedin

7220

15 October 1919

A. R. Kennedy Registrar

No	514
Date of Notice	15 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Johnstone	Rachel Weatherall
	💍 1919/7623
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (4 November 1916)
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Dunedin
Folio	7220
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1919
Officiating Minister	A. R. Kennedy Registrar

515

15 October 1919

William Thomas Peters
Harriet King

William Thomas Peters
Harriet King
💍 1919/7625

Widower (5 December 1918)
Spinster

Blacksmith

40
35

Dunedin
Dunedin

7 years
6 weeks

Methodist Church Moray Place Dunedin

7221

15 October 1919

Rev M. A. R. Pratt (Meth)

No	515
Date of Notice	15 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Peters	Harriet King
	💍 1919/7625
Condition	Widower (5 December 1918)	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	40	35
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Moray Place Dunedin
Folio	7221
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev M. A. R. Pratt (Meth)

516

16 October 1919

Stanley Gordon Cooper
Pansy Fedora Waters

Stanley Gordon Cooper
Tansy Fedora Waters
💍 1919/7626

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Manager

33
27

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 months
27 years

St Matthews Church Dunedin

7222

16 October 1919

Rev W. Curzon Siggers (C of E)

No	516
Date of Notice	16 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Gordon Cooper	Pansy Fedora Waters
BDM Match (97%)	Stanley Gordon Cooper	Tansy Fedora Waters
	💍 1919/7626
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Manager
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 months	27 years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church Dunedin
Folio	7222
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Curzon Siggers (C of E)

517

16 October 1919

William Cormack
Anne Agnes Bowie

William Cormack
Anne Agnes Bowie
💍 1919/7627

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

30
27

Dunedin
Dunedin

30 years
27 years

Knox Church Dunedin

7223

16 October 1919

Rev R. E. Davies (Pres)

No	517
Date of Notice	16 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cormack	Anne Agnes Bowie
	💍 1919/7627
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	30 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church Dunedin
Folio	7223
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev R. E. Davies (Pres)

518

16 October 1919

Robert Charles Symon
Mary Jane Egglestone

Robert Charles Symon
Mary Jane Egglestone
💍 1919/7628

Bachelor
Spinster

Pastry Cook

28
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

18 months
14 years

House of Mr J Egglestone 135 Cargill Street Dunedin

7224

16 October 1919

Mr J. J. Cumming (Pres)

No	518
Date of Notice	16 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Charles Symon	Mary Jane Egglestone
	💍 1919/7628
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pastry Cook
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	18 months	14 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr J Egglestone 135 Cargill Street Dunedin
Folio	7224
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr J. J. Cumming (Pres)

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).