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 2892

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

519

16 October 1919

Dugald Stuart Mackay
Jane Mary Thomson

Widower
Spinster

Motorman

37
34

Dunedin
St Leonards

19 years
5 years

Church of Christ North East Valley

7225

16 October 1919

Mr. F. Arnold (Church of Christ)

No	519
Date of Notice	16 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Dugald Stuart Mackay	Jane Mary Thomson
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Motorman
Age	37	34
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	St Leonards
Length of Residence	19 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ North East Valley
Folio	7225
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr. F. Arnold (Church of Christ)

520

16 October 1919

Alexander Logan
Margaret Helen Sinclair

Alexander Logan
Margaret Helen Sinclair
💍 1919/7935

William Ernest Bowden
Margaret Helen Sinclair
💍 1920/3428

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

38
32

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 weeks
3 weeks

Residence of Mr W. J. Perry 13 Kirkcaldy Street South Dunedin

7536

16 October 1919

Rev. R. Fairmaid (Presbyterian)

No	520
Date of Notice	16 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Logan	Margaret Helen Sinclair
	💍 1919/7935
BDM Match (64%)	William Ernest Bowden	Margaret Helen Sinclair
	💍 1920/3428
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	38	32
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr W. J. Perry 13 Kirkcaldy Street South Dunedin
Folio	7536
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Fairmaid (Presbyterian)

521

17 October 1919

Robert Steven
Wilhelmina Elizabeth McGill

Robert Steven
Wilhelmina Elizabeth McGill
💍 1919/7936

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

35
32

Dunedin
Portobello

33 years
7 years

House of W. McGill Portobello

7537

17 October 1919

Rev. G. M. Donald (Presbyterian)

No	521
Date of Notice	17 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Steven	Wilhelmina Elizabeth McGill
	💍 1919/7936
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	35	32
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Portobello
Length of Residence	33 years	7 years
Marriage Place	House of W. McGill Portobello
Folio	7537
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. M. Donald (Presbyterian)

522

17 October 1919

John Bevin
Alice Mary Ann Woodcock

John Bevin
Alice Mary Ann Woodcock
💍 1919/7937

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
23

Wakari
Dunedin

20 years
23 years

Registrar's Office Dunedin

7538

17 October 1919

A. R. Kennedy Registrar

No	522
Date of Notice	17 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bevin	Alice Mary Ann Woodcock
	💍 1919/7937
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Wakari	Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Dunedin
Folio	7538
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1919
Officiating Minister	A. R. Kennedy Registrar

523

18 October 1919

Samuel Campbell
Ethel Mary Wills

Samuel Campbell
Ethel Mary Wills
💍 1919/7938

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

24
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

19 years
7 years

House of J. S. Campbell 16 Constitution Street Dunedin

7539

18 October 1919

Rev. R. E. Evans (Presbyterian)

No	523
Date of Notice	18 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Campbell	Ethel Mary Wills
	💍 1919/7938
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	19 years	7 years
Marriage Place	House of J. S. Campbell 16 Constitution Street Dunedin
Folio	7539
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. E. Evans (Presbyterian)

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).