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 3039

District of Mount Cook Quarter ending 30 June 1920 Registrar R. Peebles

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 1920

Herbert James Valentine
Dorothea Wood

Herbert James Valentine
Dorothea Wood
💍 1920/5235

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

23
19

Ashwick Flat
Ashwick Flat

7 years
19 years

St. Stephens Church Fairlie

2768

Julia Winifred Wood - mother

10 April 1920

Rev L. Wilson, Anglican

No	10
Date of Notice	10 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert James Valentine	Dorothea Wood
	💍 1920/5235
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Ashwick Flat	Ashwick Flat
Length of Residence	7 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church Fairlie
Folio	2768
Consent	Julia Winifred Wood - mother
Date of Certificate	10 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev L. Wilson, Anglican

17 April 1920

Laurence Siegert
Julia Ann Sheehan

Laurence Siegert
Julia Ann Sheehan
💍 1920/6424

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

31
23

Fairlie
Timaru

31 years
7 months

Roman Catholic Church Timaru

6037

17 April 1920

Rev H. Hurley, Roman Catholic Priest

No	11
Date of Notice	17 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Laurence Siegert	Julia Ann Sheehan
	💍 1920/6424
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Fairlie	Timaru
Length of Residence	31 years	7 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Timaru
Folio	6037
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev H. Hurley, Roman Catholic Priest

15 May 1920

Leslie Charles Whyte
Harriet Mary Jones

Leslie Charles Whyte
Harriett Mary Jones
💍 1920/6761

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

31
25

Ashwick Flat
Ashwick Flat

31 years
25 years

Roman Catholic Church Fairlie

6385

15 May 1920

Rev P. A. Galerne, Roman Catholic Priest

No	12
Date of Notice	15 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Charles Whyte	Harriet Mary Jones
BDM Match (97%)	Leslie Charles Whyte	Harriett Mary Jones
	💍 1920/6761
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Ashwick Flat	Ashwick Flat
Length of Residence	31 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Fairlie
Folio	6385
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev P. A. Galerne, Roman Catholic Priest

27 May 1920

John Henderson Willetts
Mary Ann Emily Smart

John Henderson Willetts
Mary Ann Emily Smart
💍 1920/6739

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Domestic Duties

28
26

Fairlie
Burke's Pass

10 years
26 years

Private Residence of E. Smart Burke's Pass

6386

27 May 1920

Rev A. B. W. Standage, Presbyterian Minister

No	13
Date of Notice	27 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henderson Willetts	Mary Ann Emily Smart
	💍 1920/6739
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Fairlie	Burke's Pass
Length of Residence	10 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of E. Smart Burke's Pass
Folio	6386
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev A. B. W. Standage, Presbyterian Minister

2 June 1920

Walter George Black
Gladys Lilian Smith

Walter George Black
Gladys Lilian Smith
💍 1920/6447

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Agent
Housemaid

23
21

Fairlie
Timaru

19 years
3 days

Office of Registrar of Marriages Timaru

6062

2 June 1920

Registrar of Marriages Timaru

No	14
Date of Notice	2 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter George Black	Gladys Lilian Smith
	💍 1920/6447
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Agent	Housemaid
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Fairlie	Timaru
Length of Residence	19 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages Timaru
Folio	6062
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Timaru

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).