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 2938

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

749

29 December 1919

John Bates
Agnes Prentice meek Spence

John Bates
Agnes Prentice Meek Spence
💍 1919/9750

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

50
43

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 days
8 days

House of A. Spence, Pine Hill Terrace, Dunedin

9526

29 December 1919

Rev. W. J. Evans (Presbyterian)

No	749
Date of Notice	29 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bates	Agnes Prentice meek Spence
BDM Match (98%)	John Bates	Agnes Prentice Meek Spence
	💍 1919/9750
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	50	43
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 days	8 days
Marriage Place	House of A. Spence, Pine Hill Terrace, Dunedin
Folio	9526
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Evans (Presbyterian)

750

29 December 1919

William John McIntosh
Ada Kennard

William John McIntosh
Ada Kennard
💍 1920/2594

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Carpenter

45
40

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
40 years

Methodist Church, Caversham

32/1920

29 December 1919

Rev. R. Raine (Methodist)

No	750
Date of Notice	29 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John McIntosh	Ada Kennard
	💍 1920/2594
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Carpenter
Age	45	40
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	40 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Caversham
Folio	32/1920
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Raine (Methodist)

751

29 December 1919

James Joseph Ryan
Mary Ellen Ryan

James Joseph Ryan
Mary Ellen Ryan
💍 1919/8122

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

30
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

20 years
2 years

St Patrick's Basilica, South Dunedin

7747

29 December 1919

Rev. J. P. Delany (Roman Catholic)

No	751
Date of Notice	29 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Joseph Ryan	Mary Ellen Ryan
	💍 1919/8122
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Basilica, South Dunedin
Folio	7747
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Delany (Roman Catholic)

752

29 December 1919

Thomas John Wallace Bateman
Margaret Agnes Moore

Thomas John Wallace Bateman
Margaret Agnes Moore
💍 1919/8123

Widower 26:7:17
Spinster

Contractor

37
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
25 years

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

7748

29 December 1919

A. R. Kennedy, Registrar

No	752
Date of Notice	29 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas John Wallace Bateman	Margaret Agnes Moore
	💍 1919/8123
Condition	Widower 26:7:17	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	37	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	7748
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1919
Officiating Minister	A. R. Kennedy, Registrar

753

29 December 1919

James Brownlee
Jeannette Ritchie

James Brownlee
Jeannette Ritchie
💍 1919/8124

Widower 18:7:12
Spinster

Wool dyer

47
41

St Kilda
St Kilda

6 days
7 weeks

House of D. Ritchie, 72 Princes Street, St Kilda

7749

29 December 1919

Rev. R. Fairmaid (Presbyterian)

No	753
Date of Notice	29 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Brownlee	Jeannette Ritchie
	💍 1919/8124
Condition	Widower 18:7:12	Spinster
Profession	Wool dyer
Age	47	41
Dwelling Place	St Kilda	St Kilda
Length of Residence	6 days	7 weeks
Marriage Place	House of D. Ritchie, 72 Princes Street, St Kilda
Folio	7749
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Fairmaid (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).