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 2706

District of Waimate Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar N. L. Thomas

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

5 May 1919

Alexander McPherson
Catherine Frost

Alexander McPherson
Catherine Frost
💍 1919/4717

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

41
29

Waikakahi Glenavy
Studholme Junction

41 years
29 years

St Patrick's Church Waimate

3948

5 May 1919

Rev Father Stewart, Catholic Priest

No	13
Date of Notice	5 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander McPherson	Catherine Frost
	💍 1919/4717
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	41	29
Dwelling Place	Waikakahi Glenavy	Studholme Junction
Length of Residence	41 years	29 years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Church Waimate
Folio	3948
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Stewart, Catholic Priest

27 May 1919

Alexander John Hunter
Julia Francis Foley

Alexander John Hunter
Julia Francis Foley
💍 1919/4718

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
21

Waihaorunga
Waitao Downs

since birth
since birth

St Patrick's Church Waimate

3949

27 May 1919

Rev Father Stewart, Catholic Priest

No	14
Date of Notice	27 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander John Hunter	Julia Francis Foley
	💍 1919/4718
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Waihaorunga	Waitao Downs
Length of Residence	since birth	since birth
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Church Waimate
Folio	3949
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Stewart, Catholic Priest

30 May 1919

Reginald Eric Williams
Emma Williams

Reginald Eric Williams
Emma Williams
💍 1919/4719

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter N.Z. Railways
Domestic Duties

34
30

Waimate, Christchurch
Waimate

3 months
since birth

St Augustine's Church Waimate

3950

30 May 1919

Rev J. A. Julius, Church of England

No	15
Date of Notice	30 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Eric Williams	Emma Williams
	💍 1919/4719
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter N.Z. Railways	Domestic Duties
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Waimate, Christchurch	Waimate
Length of Residence	3 months	since birth
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Church Waimate
Folio	3950
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. A. Julius, Church of England

30 May 1919

John Frederick Howe
Alice Hawkins

John Frederick Howe
Alice Hawkins
💍 1919/4727

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

25
24

Waimate
Waimate

since birth
since birth

Residence of Mr W. Hawkins, Parsonage Road, Waimate

3951

30 May 1919

Rev A. N. Scotter, Methodist

No	16
Date of Notice	30 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Frederick Howe	Alice Hawkins
	💍 1919/4727
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	since birth	since birth
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr W. Hawkins, Parsonage Road, Waimate
Folio	3951
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. N. Scotter, Methodist

7 June 1919

Edward John Williams
Francis Hilda Players Newton

Edward John Williams
Frances Hilda Players Newton
💍 1919/4738

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

28
25

Waimate
Waimate

since birth
5 1/2 years

Saint Augustine's Church Waimate

3952

7 June 1919

Rev John Audrey Julius, Church of England

No	17
Date of Notice	7 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward John Williams	Francis Hilda Players Newton
BDM Match (98%)	Edward John Williams	Frances Hilda Players Newton
	💍 1919/4738
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	since birth	5 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Saint Augustine's Church Waimate
Folio	3952
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev John Audrey Julius, Church of England

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).