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 2904

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar A. Mead

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

579

8 November 1919

Ernest Arthur Whittle
Emma Helena Forsyth

Ernest Arthur Whittle
Emma Helena Forsyth
💍 1919/7966

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward

43
31

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
29 years

St Mary's Church Mornington

7592

8 November 1919

Rev. Canon Small, Church of England

No	579
Date of Notice	8 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Arthur Whittle	Emma Helena Forsyth
	💍 1919/7966
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward
Age	43	31
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	29 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Mornington
Folio	7592
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Small, Church of England

580

10 November 1919

James Neilson
Helen Dean

James Neilson
Helen Dean
💍 1919/7967

Bachelor
Spinster

Cordial Manufacturer

32
25

Dunedin
St Kilda

6 years
8 years

Methodist Church Caversham

7593

10 November 1919

Rev. S. Griffith, Methodist

No	580
Date of Notice	10 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Neilson	Helen Dean
	💍 1919/7967
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cordial Manufacturer
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	St Kilda
Length of Residence	6 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Caversham
Folio	7593
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Griffith, Methodist

581

10 November 1919

Arthur Henry Prosser
Edith Alice Luscombe

Arthur Henry Prosser
Edith Alice Luscombe
💍 1919/7969

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Mariner

33
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 months
23 years

Congregational Church King Street Dunedin

7594

10 November 1919

Rev. A. H. Wallace, Congregational

No	581
Date of Notice	10 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Prosser	Edith Alice Luscombe
	💍 1919/7969
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 months	23 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church King Street Dunedin
Folio	7594
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Wallace, Congregational

582

10 November 1919

Peter Wood
Elizabeth Theodora Paterson

Peter Wood
Elizabeth Theodora Paterson
💍 1919/7970

Widower 18.4.17
Spinster

Miller and Grain Merchant

51
36

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
36 years

House of Mr A.S. Paterson 9 Alva Street Dunedin

7595

10 November 1919

Rev. R. Waddell, Presbyterian

No	582
Date of Notice	10 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Wood	Elizabeth Theodora Paterson
	💍 1919/7970
Condition	Widower 18.4.17	Spinster
Profession	Miller and Grain Merchant
Age	51	36
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	36 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr A.S. Paterson 9 Alva Street Dunedin
Folio	7595
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Waddell, Presbyterian

583

10 November 1919

Cornelius O'Driscoll
Kathleen Walsh

Cornelius O'Driscoll
Kathleen Walsh
💍 1919/7971

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

40
27

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
5 years

St Joseph's Cathedral Dunedin

7596

10 November 1919

Rev. B. Kaveney, Roman Catholic

No	583
Date of Notice	10 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cornelius O'Driscoll	Kathleen Walsh
	💍 1919/7971
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	40	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	St Joseph's Cathedral Dunedin
Folio	7596
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Kaveney, 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).