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 2668

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 March 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

22 January 1919

William Alexander Little
Helen Greig McMaster

William Alexander Little
Helen Greig McMaster
💍 1919/1785

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

34
24

Cave
Timaru

30 years
3 days

Chalmers Presbyterian Church Timaru

1490

22 January 1919

Rev. J. B. Hall, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	22 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Little	Helen Greig McMaster
	💍 1919/1785
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Cave	Timaru
Length of Residence	30 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church Timaru
Folio	1490
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Hall, Presbyterian

28 January 1919

James Wemyss O'Donahoo
Agnes Blair

James Wemyss O'Donahoo
Agnes Blair
💍 1919/1786

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Domestic Duties

23
27

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
3 days

Church of England (St Mary's) Timaru

1491

28 January 1919

Rev. C. Coates, Anglican

No	7
Date of Notice	28 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Wemyss O'Donahoo	Agnes Blair
	💍 1919/1786
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Domestic Duties
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England (St Mary's) Timaru
Folio	1491
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Coates, Anglican

28 January 1919

William Henry Arbuckle
Mary Jane Bain

William Henry Arbuckle
Mary Jane Bain
💍 1919/1787

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker's assistant
Domestic duties

27
28

Timaru
Timaru

2 year
1 year

Residence of Mr. A Bain 14 White Street, Timaru

1492

28 January 1919

Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	28 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Arbuckle	Mary Jane Bain
	💍 1919/1787
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker's assistant	Domestic duties
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	2 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. A Bain 14 White Street, Timaru
Folio	1492
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

3 February 1919

Arthur Stanley Burrell
Mary Isabel Annand

Arthur Stanley Burrell
Mary Isabel Annaud
💍 1919/1788

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool-classer
Domestic

29
29

Timaru
Timaru

23 year
20 year

Trinity Presbyterian Church, Timaru

1493

3 February 1919

Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	3 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Stanley Burrell	Mary Isabel Annand
BDM Match (97%)	Arthur Stanley Burrell	Mary Isabel Annaud
	💍 1919/1788
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool-classer	Domestic
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	23 year	20 year
Marriage Place	Trinity Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	1493
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

4 February 1919

William Edward Sharp
Violet Margaret Waddell

William Edward Sharp
Violet Margaret Waddell
💍 1919/1790

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

38
27

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
3 days

Trinity Presbyterian Church, Timaru

1494

4 February 1919

Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	4 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Sharp	Violet Margaret Waddell
	💍 1919/1790
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	38	27
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Trinity Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	1494
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 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).