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 2909

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

604

21 November 1919

Arnold Andreas Charles Frank
Jane Crawford

Arnold Andreas Charles Frank
Jane Crawford
💍 1919/4577

Widower
Spinster

Chief Steward

50
42

Dunedin
Dunedin

8 years
Life

St. Matthews Church Dunedin

7616

21 November 1919

Rev. W. Curzon-Siggers, Church of England

No	604
Date of Notice	21 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arnold Andreas Charles Frank	Jane Crawford
	💍 1919/4577
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Chief Steward
Age	50	42
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	8 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church Dunedin
Folio	7616
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Curzon-Siggers, Church of England

605

21 November 1919

Thomas John James Barkman
Ethel May Barnes

Thomas John James Barkman
Ethel May Barnes
💍 1919/4578

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

24
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

24 years
20 years

Rakaia Tea Rooms 87 Stuart Street Dunedin

7617

William Barnes (Father)

21 November 1919

Rev. R. G. Stewart, Baptist

No	605
Date of Notice	21 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas John James Barkman	Ethel May Barnes
	💍 1919/4578
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	24 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Rakaia Tea Rooms 87 Stuart Street Dunedin
Folio	7617
Consent	William Barnes (Father)
Date of Certificate	21 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. G. Stewart, Baptist

606

21 November 1919

James Bruce
Annabella Marr Torrance

James Cruse
Annabella Marr Torrance
💍 1919/4579

Bachelor
Spinster

District Organiser

26
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

26 years
7 years

First Church Dunedin

7618

21 November 1919

Rev. G. H. Balfour, Presbyterian

No	606
Date of Notice	21 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Bruce	Annabella Marr Torrance
BDM Match (91%)	James Cruse	Annabella Marr Torrance
	💍 1919/4579
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	District Organiser
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	26 years	7 years
Marriage Place	First Church Dunedin
Folio	7618
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Balfour, Presbyterian

607

21 November 1919

Thomas Johnston
Mary Addie Ferguson

Thomas Johnston
Mary Addie Ferguson
💍 1919/4581

Bachelor
Spinster

Stationmaster

27
26

Ravensbourne
Ravensbourne

5 months
Life

Residence of Mr. T. B. Ferguson 'Wallacebank' Ravensbourne

7619

21 November 1919

Rev. A. Gray, Presbyterian

No	607
Date of Notice	21 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Johnston	Mary Addie Ferguson
	💍 1919/4581
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stationmaster
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Ravensbourne	Ravensbourne
Length of Residence	5 months	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. T. B. Ferguson 'Wallacebank' Ravensbourne
Folio	7619
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Gray, Presbyterian

608

22 November 1919

Edwin Chewin
Catherine Leonard

Edwin Chetwin
Catherine Leonard
💍 1919/4582

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

24
26

Dunedin
Dunedin

24 years
26 years

St Patricks Basilica South Dunedin

7620

22 November 1919

Rev. J. P. Delany, Roman Catholic

No	608
Date of Notice	22 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Chewin	Catherine Leonard
BDM Match (96%)	Edwin Chetwin	Catherine Leonard
	💍 1919/4582
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	24 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St Patricks Basilica South Dunedin
Folio	7620
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Delany, Roman Catholic

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).