Intentions to Marry, 1919 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840487, 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.

1919g contains pages 2943-3338, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 2961

District of East Taieri Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar W. R. Howard

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

23 April 1919

William Thomas McNutt
Ella Steele Stark

William Thomas McNubb
Ella Steele Shark
💍 1919/4773

bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic duties

22
20

Mosgiel
Mosgiel

2 months
2 months

Presbyterian Church Mosgiel

3931

James Stark, Father

23 April 1919

Rev D Calder, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	23 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas McNutt	Ella Steele Stark
BDM Match (92%)	William Thomas McNubb	Ella Steele Shark
	💍 1919/4773
Condition	bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel	Mosgiel
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Mosgiel
Folio	3931
Consent	James Stark, Father
Date of Certificate	23 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev D Calder, Presbyterian

5 May 1919

Lindsay Allan
Georgina Kirk

Lindsay Allan
Georgina Kirk
💍 1919/4774

bachelor
Spinster

Sales manager
Domestic duties

24
20

Mosgiel
Mosgiel

4 days
20 years

Residence of Mrs Kirk, Mayfield Mosgiel

3932

Georgina Kirk, Mother

5 May 1919

Rev W W Brown, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	5 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lindsay Allan	Georgina Kirk
	💍 1919/4774
Condition	bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sales manager	Domestic duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel	Mosgiel
Length of Residence	4 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Kirk, Mayfield Mosgiel
Folio	3932
Consent	Georgina Kirk, Mother
Date of Certificate	5 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev W W Brown, Presbyterian

14 May 1919

Horace Fawcett
Sarah Helen Guy

Horace Fawcett
Sarah Helen Guy
💍 1919/4775

Widower
Spinster

School teacher
school teacher

36
28

Dunedin
East Taieri

3 days
14 days

Presbyterian Church East Taieri

3933

14 May 1919

Rev W W Brown, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	14 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Fawcett	Sarah Helen Guy
	💍 1919/4775
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	School teacher	school teacher
Age	36	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	East Taieri
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church East Taieri
Folio	3933
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev W W Brown, Presbyterian

4 June 1919

Walter Thompson
Martha Catherine Williamina Allen

Walter Thompson
Martha Catherine Williamina Allen
💍 1919/4776

bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

22
25

Mosgiel
Mosgiel

3 days
16 years

Presbyterian Church North Taieri

3934

4 June 1919

Rev Jas Lymburn, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	4 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Thompson	Martha Catherine Williamina Allen
	💍 1919/4776
Condition	bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel	Mosgiel
Length of Residence	3 days	16 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church North Taieri
Folio	3934
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev Jas Lymburn, Presbyterian

6 June 1919

Frank William Edwards
Edith Berney

Frank William Edwards
Edith Berney
💍 1919/4753

bachelor
Spinster

Miner
domestic duties

21
20

Mosgiel
Mosgiel

3 days
18 months

Anglian Vicarage Mosgiel

3935

George Berney, Father

6 June 1919

Rev S J Cooper, Anglican

No	7
Date of Notice	6 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank William Edwards	Edith Berney
	💍 1919/4753
Condition	bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	domestic duties
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel	Mosgiel
Length of Residence	3 days	18 months
Marriage Place	Anglian Vicarage Mosgiel
Folio	3935
Consent	George Berney, Father
Date of Certificate	6 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev S J Cooper, Anglican

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).