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 2925

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar [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

684

16 December 1919

George Arthur Smith Berriman
Beatrice Harriet Fountain

George Arthur Smith Berriman
Beatrice Harriet Fountain
💍 1919/9772

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

20
26

Dunedin
Dunedin

20 years
18 years

St John's Church Roslyn

9566

Mary Eliza Macdonald (mother)

16 December 1919

Archdeacon W. A. R. Fitchett, Church of England

No	684
Date of Notice	16 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Arthur Smith Berriman	Beatrice Harriet Fountain
	💍 1919/9772
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	20	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church Roslyn
Folio	9566
Consent	Mary Eliza Macdonald (mother)
Date of Certificate	16 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon W. A. R. Fitchett, Church of England

685

16 December 1919

Stanley Wickliffe Smith
Frances Margaret Joase

Stanley Wickliffe Smith
Frances Margaret Toase
💍 1919/8066

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

28
27

Dunedin
Dunedin

28 years
27 years

House of Mr W. G. Joase, 220 King Street, Dunedin

7692

16 December 1919

Rev. H. A. R. Pratt, Methodist

No	685
Date of Notice	16 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Wickliffe Smith	Frances Margaret Joase
BDM Match (98%)	Stanley Wickliffe Smith	Frances Margaret Toase
	💍 1919/8066
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	28 years	27 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr W. G. Joase, 220 King Street, Dunedin
Folio	7692
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. R. Pratt, Methodist

686

16 December 1919

Joseph Frederick Waterhouse
Margaret Manson Williamson (Commonly known as Lyons)

Joseph Frederick Lyons
Margaret Manson Williamson
💍 1919/8067

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner's Machinist

47
41

Dunedin
Dunedin

20 years
16 years

Kaka Tea Rooms, 87 Stuart Street, Dunedin

7693

16 December 1919

Rev. R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

No	686
Date of Notice	16 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Frederick Waterhouse	Margaret Manson Williamson (Commonly known as Lyons)
BDM Match (60%)	Joseph Frederick Lyons	Margaret Manson Williamson
	💍 1919/8067
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner's Machinist
Age	47	41
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Kaka Tea Rooms, 87 Stuart Street, Dunedin
Folio	7693
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

687

16 December 1919

James Garfield Anderson
Elsie Margaret Macdougall

James Garfield Anderson
Elsie Margaret Macdougall
💍 1919/8069

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher

25
26

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 days
26 years

St Stephen's Church Dunedin

7694

16 December 1919

Rev. W. F. Evans, Presbyterian

No	687
Date of Notice	16 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Garfield Anderson	Elsie Margaret Macdougall
	💍 1919/8069
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	26 years
Marriage Place	St Stephen's Church Dunedin
Folio	7694
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. F. Evans, Presbyterian

688

16 December 1919

Willis Charles Keates
Fanny Alcock

Willis Charles Keates
Fanny Alcock
💍 1919/8070

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

25
26

Dunedin
Dunedin

25 years
6 years

House of Mr M. Woods, 42 Easther Crescent, Caversham

7695

16 December 1919

Rev. G. H. Jupp, Presbyterian

No	688
Date of Notice	16 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Willis Charles Keates	Fanny Alcock
	💍 1919/8070
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	25 years	6 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr M. Woods, 42 Easther Crescent, Caversham
Folio	7695
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Jupp, 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).