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 2901

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar C. H. Manson

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

564

3 November 1919

James Pope
Belle Bradley Farrell

James Pope
Belle Brading Frank
💍 1919/7976

Widower
Spinster

Labourer

36
35

Dunedin
Dunedin

36 years
8 months

House of Mrs. J. Douglas, 15 or 16 Moray Place, Dunedin

7578

3 November 1919

Rev. A. Hopper (Methodist)

No	564
Date of Notice	3 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Pope	Belle Bradley Farrell
BDM Match (81%)	James Pope	Belle Brading Frank
	💍 1919/7976
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	36	35
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	36 years	8 months
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. J. Douglas, 15 or 16 Moray Place, Dunedin
Folio	7578
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hopper (Methodist)

565

4 November 1919

John Healy
Cecelia Meekin

John Healy
Cecilia Meckin
💍 1919/7977

Bachelor
Spinster

Flourmiller

27
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
14 years

St. Patrick's Basilica, South Dunedin

7579

4 November 1919

Rev. R. Graham (Roman Catholic)

No	565
Date of Notice	4 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Healy	Cecelia Meekin
BDM Match (93%)	John Healy	Cecilia Meckin
	💍 1919/7977
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Flourmiller
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Basilica, South Dunedin
Folio	7579
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Graham (Roman Catholic)

566

4 November 1919

Fredrick George Harris
Jessie Robina May Cumberbeach

Fredrick George Harris
Jessie Robina May Cumberbeach
💍 1919/7978

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

30
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

10 years
9 years

Church of Christ, King Street, Dunedin

7580

4 November 1919

Rev. S. G. Griffith (Church of Christ)

No	566
Date of Notice	4 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fredrick George Harris	Jessie Robina May Cumberbeach
	💍 1919/7978
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	10 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, King Street, Dunedin
Folio	7580
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. G. Griffith (Church of Christ)

567

4 November 1919

Humphry Fred Moynihan
Louisa McHardy

Humphrey Fred Moynihan
Louisa McHardy
💍 1919/7979

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

53
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin

7581

4 November 1919

Rev. J. J. Kavanagh (Roman Catholic)

No	567
Date of Notice	4 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Humphry Fred Moynihan	Louisa McHardy
BDM Match (98%)	Humphrey Fred Moynihan	Louisa McHardy
	💍 1919/7979
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	53	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	7581
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Kavanagh (Roman Catholic)

568

4 November 1919

David Wilson
Agnes Hill

David Wilson
Agnes Hill
💍 1919/7980

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
36

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 weeks

Chalmers Church, Dunedin

7582

4 November 1919

Rev. E. A. Adams (Presbyterian)

No	568
Date of Notice	4 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Wilson	Agnes Hill
	💍 1919/7980
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	36
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Chalmers Church, Dunedin
Folio	7582
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. A. Adams (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).