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 2674

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar J. M. Arthur

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

10 April 1919

Robert Stewart Baird
Mary McRae

Robert Stewart Baird
Mary McRae
💍 1919/3920

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger
Household duties

28
24

Timaru
Timaru

28 years
24 years

Residence of Mrs John McRae, Selwyn Street, Timaru

3908

10 April 1919

Rev E R Harries, Presbyterian

No	35
Date of Notice	10 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Stewart Baird	Mary McRae
	💍 1919/3920
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger	Household duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	28 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs John McRae, Selwyn Street, Timaru
Folio	3908
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev E R Harries, Presbyterian

11 April 1919

Arthur Stanley Barratt White
Margaret Bell Smith

Arthur Stanley White
Margaret Bell Smith
💍 1919/3921

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

34
41

Otipua
Pareora West

4 years
10 years

St Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

3909

11 April 1919

Rev J H Rogers, Anglican

No	36
Date of Notice	11 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Stanley Barratt White	Margaret Bell Smith
BDM Match (86%)	Arthur Stanley White	Margaret Bell Smith
	💍 1919/3921
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	34	41
Dwelling Place	Otipua	Pareora West
Length of Residence	4 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	3909
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J H Rogers, Anglican

12 April 1919

George Ramsay
Christina Black

George Ramsay
Christina Black
💍 1919/3898

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm-hand
Domestic

27
26

Glen-iti
Glen-iti

12 years
6 years

Chambers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

3910

12 April 1919

Rev E R Harries, Presbyterian

No	37
Date of Notice	12 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ramsay	Christina Black
	💍 1919/3898
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm-hand	Domestic
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Glen-iti	Glen-iti
Length of Residence	12 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Chambers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	3910
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev E R Harries, Presbyterian

12 April 1919

Robert John Kirk
Janet Louisa Todd

Robert John Kirk
Janet Louisa Todd
💍 1919/3899

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic duties

35
27

Timaru
Timaru

8 years
9 years

Congregational Church, North Street, Timaru

3911

12 April 1919

Rev T W Potts, Congregationalist

No	38
Date of Notice	12 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert John Kirk	Janet Louisa Todd
	💍 1919/3899
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic duties
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	8 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, North Street, Timaru
Folio	3911
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev T W Potts, Congregationalist

12 April 1919

Ronald Matthew Thomson
Mary Jessie Chapman

Ronald Matthew Thomson
Mary Jessie Chapman
💍 1919/3900

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic duties

25
19

Christchurch / Timaru
Timaru

2 years
2 weeks

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

3912

William George Chapman (Father)

12 April 1919

Rev J B Hall, Presbyterian

No	39
Date of Notice	12 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Matthew Thomson	Mary Jessie Chapman
	💍 1919/3900
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic duties
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch / Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	2 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	3912
Consent	William George Chapman (Father)
Date of Certificate	12 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J B Hall, 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).