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 2848

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar H. Maxwell

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

308

28 June 1919

John Prout Colwill
Ethel Simpson

John Proat Colwill
Ethel Simpson
💍 1919/4967

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

32
29

Dunedin
Dunedin

8 years
29 years

House of J. B. Simpson, 289 York Place, Dunedin

4198

28 June 1919

G. H. Balfour, Presbyterian

No	308
Date of Notice	28 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Prout Colwill	Ethel Simpson
BDM Match (97%)	John Proat Colwill	Ethel Simpson
	💍 1919/4967
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	8 years	29 years
Marriage Place	House of J. B. Simpson, 289 York Place, Dunedin
Folio	4198
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 June 1919
Officiating Minister	G. H. Balfour, Presbyterian

309

30 June 1919

Hanats Theodore Wahrlich
Isabella Tolmie Somerville

Hanato Theodore Wahrlich
Isabella Tolmie Somerville
💍 1919/3016

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman

20
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 weeks
3 months

House of R. S. Gray, 385 Leith Street, Dunedin

2824

F. W. T. Wahrlich (father)

30 June 1919

R. S. Gray, Baptist

No	309
Date of Notice	30 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hanats Theodore Wahrlich	Isabella Tolmie Somerville
BDM Match (98%)	Hanato Theodore Wahrlich	Isabella Tolmie Somerville
	💍 1919/3016
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman
Age	20	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 months
Marriage Place	House of R. S. Gray, 385 Leith Street, Dunedin
Folio	2824
Consent	F. W. T. Wahrlich (father)
Date of Certificate	30 June 1919
Officiating Minister	R. S. Gray, Baptist

310

30 June 1919

Michael Kilkeary
Laura Barratt

Michael Kilkeary
Laura Barratt
💍 1919/3017

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

23
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 year
1 year

St. Patricks Basilica, South Dunedin

2825

30 June 1919

R. Graham, Roman Catholic

No	310
Date of Notice	30 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Kilkeary	Laura Barratt
	💍 1919/3017
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Basilica, South Dunedin
Folio	2825
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 June 1919
Officiating Minister	R. Graham, Roman Catholic

311

30 June 1919

John Henderson
Violet Green

John Henderson
Violet Green
💍 1919/4968

Bachelor
Spinster

Linesman

34
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

30 years
1 week

St. Martins Church, North East Valley

4199

30 June 1919

N. A. Friberg, Church of England

No	311
Date of Notice	30 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henderson	Violet Green
	💍 1919/4968
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linesman
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	30 years	1 week
Marriage Place	St. Martins Church, North East Valley
Folio	4199
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 June 1919
Officiating Minister	N. A. Friberg, Church of England

312

30 June 1919

Frederick William Banks
Florence May Silverea De Brum

Frederick William Banks
Florence May Silverea de Brun
💍 1919/49

Widower 16 November 1918
Spinster

Marine officer

36
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
20 years

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

2826

30 June 1919

H. Maxwell, Acting Registrar

No	312
Date of Notice	30 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Banks	Florence May Silverea De Brum
BDM Match (97%)	Frederick William Banks	Florence May Silverea de Brun
	💍 1919/49
Condition	Widower 16 November 1918	Spinster
Profession	Marine officer
Age	36	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	2826
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 June 1919
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell, Acting Registrar

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).