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 2933

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

724

23 December 1919

John Joseph Wilson
Elizabeth McArthur Gibson

John Joseph Wilson
Elizabeth McArthur Gibson
💍 1919/8127

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

34
32

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 days
5 years

House of E. Small, North East Harbour

7729

23 December 1919

Rev. G. McDonald, Presbyterian

No	724
Date of Notice	23 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Wilson	Elizabeth McArthur Gibson
	💍 1919/8127
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	5 years
Marriage Place	House of E. Small, North East Harbour
Folio	7729
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. McDonald, Presbyterian

725

23 December 1919

Charles Bevin
Amy Florence Anthony

Charles Bevin
Amy Florence Anthony
💍 1919/8128

Bachelor
Spinster

Upholsterer

26
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
24 years

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

7730

23 December 1919

A. R. Kennedy, Registrar

No	725
Date of Notice	23 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Bevin	Amy Florence Anthony
	💍 1919/8128
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Upholsterer
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	7730
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1919
Officiating Minister	A. R. Kennedy, Registrar

726

23 December 1919

Walter Mann
Minnie Alice Baxter

Walter Mann
Minnie Alice Baxter
💍 1919/8129

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

31
29

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

Knox Church, Dunedin

7731

23 December 1919

Rev. R. E. Davies, Presbyterian

No	726
Date of Notice	23 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Mann	Minnie Alice Baxter
	💍 1919/8129
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Dunedin
Folio	7731
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. E. Davies, Presbyterian

727

23 December 1919

Henry Vine Collett
Gladys Edith Eva Newton

Henry Vine Collett
Gladys Edith Eva Newton
💍 1919/8130

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

25
19

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 year
19 years

House of W. Collett, 386 Leith Street, Dunedin

7732

Jane Elizabeth Newton (Mother)

23 December 1919

Rev. A. H. Wallace, Congregational

No	727
Date of Notice	23 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Vine Collett	Gladys Edith Eva Newton
	💍 1919/8130
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 year	19 years
Marriage Place	House of W. Collett, 386 Leith Street, Dunedin
Folio	7732
Consent	Jane Elizabeth Newton (Mother)
Date of Certificate	23 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Wallace, Congregational

728

23 December 1919

Henry Charles Cox
Jessie Helen Gifford

Henry Charles Cox
Jessie Helen Gifford
💍 1919/8131

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller

23
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

15 years
20 years

St Patrick's Basilica, South Dunedin

7733

Robert Hamilton Gifford (Father)

23 December 1919

Rev. J. P. Delany, Roman Catholic

No	728
Date of Notice	23 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Charles Cox	Jessie Helen Gifford
	💍 1919/8131
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	15 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Basilica, South Dunedin
Folio	7733
Consent	Robert Hamilton Gifford (Father)
Date of Certificate	23 December 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).