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 2684

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar J. McKittrick

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

11 July 1919

Edward Brooks
Hester Dean

Edward Brooks
Hester Dean
💍 1919/6847

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Tailoress

32
22

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
3 days

Registrars Office Timaru

6282

11 July 1919

J. McKittrick, Registrar

No	77
Date of Notice	11 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Brooks	Hester Dean
	💍 1919/6847
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Tailoress
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Timaru
Folio	6282
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1919
Officiating Minister	J. McKittrick, Registrar

28 July 1919

Martin Darby Dunn
Clara Bell Agnes Lane

Martin Darby Dunn
Clara Bell Agnes Lane
💍 1919/6848

Widower 12.6.1908
Widow 26.9.1916

Labourer
Domestic

50
42

Timaru
Timaru

14 years
21 years

Roman Catholic Church Timaru

6283

28 July 1919

Very Rev. J. Tubman, Roman Catholic

No	78
Date of Notice	28 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Darby Dunn	Clara Bell Agnes Lane
	💍 1919/6848
Condition	Widower 12.6.1908	Widow 26.9.1916
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	50	42
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	14 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Timaru
Folio	6283
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. J. Tubman, Roman Catholic

29 July 1919

Nicholas Parker Bracefield
Ruth Agnes Peake

Nicholas Parker Bracefield
Ruth Agnes Peake
💍 1919/6849

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

19
19

Timaru
Timaru

5 years
13 years

Residence of Mrs Bracefield 66 Cain street Timaru

6284

Mary Jane Bracefield (mother), Blanche Louisa Peake (mother)

29 July 1919

Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

No	79
Date of Notice	29 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nicholas Parker Bracefield	Ruth Agnes Peake
	💍 1919/6849
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	5 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Bracefield 66 Cain street Timaru
Folio	6284
Consent	Mary Jane Bracefield (mother), Blanche Louisa Peake (mother)
Date of Certificate	29 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

30 July 1919

Albert William Allan
Elizabeth Gertrude Rennie

Albert William Allan
Elizabeth Gertrude Rennie
💍 1919/6826

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

26
23

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
3 years

Salvation Army Citadel Stafford street Timaru

6285

30 July 1919

Adjutant A. Hanford, Salvation Army

No	80
Date of Notice	30 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert William Allan	Elizabeth Gertrude Rennie
	💍 1919/6826
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Citadel Stafford street Timaru
Folio	6285
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Adjutant A. Hanford, Salvation Army

5 August 1919

Stephen Roper
Margaret McCahon

Stephen Roper
Margaret McCahon
💍 1919/6827

Bachelor
Spinster

Agent
Medical practitioner

45
36

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
1 month

Residence of Mrs McCahon Cain street Timaru

6286

5 August 1919

Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

No	81
Date of Notice	5 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Roper	Margaret McCahon
	💍 1919/6827
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Agent	Medical practitioner
Age	45	36
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs McCahon Cain street Timaru
Folio	6286
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Stinson, 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).