Intentions to Marry, 1920 Cust to Dunedin

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840494, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1920 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1920g contains pages 2957-3440, covering districts from Cust to Dunedin

Page 2969

District of Ellesmere Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar P. J. Eccleston

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

17/20

7 July 1920

Edwin Wallace Hampton
Annie Teresa Graham

Edwin Wallace Hampton
Annie Teresa Graham
💍 1920/9300

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
32

Leeston
Leeston

24 years
Life

Anglican Church, Southbridge

8860

7 July 1920

Rev. A. G. Hawkins

No	17/20
Date of Notice	7 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Wallace Hampton	Annie Teresa Graham
	💍 1920/9300
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	32
Dwelling Place	Leeston	Leeston
Length of Residence	24 years	Life
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Southbridge
Folio	8860
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Hawkins

18/20

31 July 1920

Walter Fielden Weavers
Winifred Mary McClelland

Walter Fielder Weavers
Winifred Mary McClelland
💍 1920/9301

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

35
24

Southbridge
Southbridge

3 days
8 days

Anglican Church, Southbridge

8861

31 July 1920

Rev. A. G. Hawkins

No	18/20
Date of Notice	31 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Fielden Weavers	Winifred Mary McClelland
BDM Match (98%)	Walter Fielder Weavers	Winifred Mary McClelland
	💍 1920/9301
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Southbridge	Southbridge
Length of Residence	3 days	8 days
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Southbridge
Folio	8861
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Hawkins

19/20

16 August 1920

Wallace Lamont Mcfarlan
Lucia Hope Bartram

Wallace Lamont McLachlan
Erica Hope Bartram
💍 1920/9302

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
22

Doyleston
Lincoln

21 years
Life

Presbyterian Church, Lincoln

8862

16 August 1920

Rev. J. C. Paterson

No	19/20
Date of Notice	16 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wallace Lamont Mcfarlan	Lucia Hope Bartram
BDM Match (83%)	Wallace Lamont McLachlan	Erica Hope Bartram
	💍 1920/9302
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Doyleston	Lincoln
Length of Residence	21 years	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Lincoln
Folio	8862
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Paterson

20/20

16 September 1920

Stanley Douglas Redden
Elizabeth Mary Boswell

Stanley Douglas Ridden
Elizabeth Mary Boswell
💍 1920/12467

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
Domestic Duties

26
22

Lake Road
Lake Road

14 days
14 days

Presbyterian Church, Brookside

8863

16 September 1920

Rev. J. S. Reid

No	20/20
Date of Notice	16 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Douglas Redden	Elizabeth Mary Boswell
BDM Match (98%)	Stanley Douglas Ridden	Elizabeth Mary Boswell
	💍 1920/12467
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Lake Road	Lake Road
Length of Residence	14 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Brookside
Folio	8863
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Reid

21/20

20 September 1920

William Henry Abbott
Annie Steele Withers

William Henry Abbott
Annie Steele Withers
💍 1920/7688

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

38
30

Southbridge
Christchurch

Life

Residence of Mr T. Withers, 121 St Asaph St, Christchurch

7517

20 September 1920

Rev. H. O. White

No	21/20
Date of Notice	20 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Abbott	Annie Steele Withers
	💍 1920/7688
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Southbridge	Christchurch
Length of Residence	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr T. Withers, 121 St Asaph St, Christchurch
Folio	7517
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. O. White

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).