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 3123

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 March 1920

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 March 1920

Charles William Walton
Frances May Betten

Charles William Walton
Frances May Butters
💍 1920/5280

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

30
24

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
3 days

Chalmers Manse, Timaru

2855

10 March 1920

Rev. G. R. Hercus, Presbyterian

No	51
Date of Notice	10 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Walton	Frances May Betten
BDM Match (92%)	Charles William Walton	Frances May Butters
	💍 1920/5280
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Chalmers Manse, Timaru
Folio	2855
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. R. Hercus, Presbyterian

10 March 1920

Richard Harris
Mary Jane Bracefield

Richard Harris
Mary Jane Bracefield
💍 1920/5291

Widower
Widow

Retired Farmer
Nurse

68
55

Timaru
Timaru

4 years
6 years

Residence of H. Raynor, 7 Oxford Street, Timaru

2856

10 March 1920

Rev. A. O. Harris, Methodist

No	52
Date of Notice	10 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Harris	Mary Jane Bracefield
	💍 1920/5291
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Retired Farmer	Nurse
Age	68	55
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of H. Raynor, 7 Oxford Street, Timaru
Folio	2856
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. O. Harris, Methodist

12 March 1920

Frederick George Dunn
Grace Dalrymple Hunter

Frederick George Dunn
Grace Dalrymple Hunter
💍 1920/5298

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic Duties

25
24

Timaru
Timaru

4 years
3 years

St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

2857

12 March 1920

Ven Archdeacon J. A. Jacob, Anglican

No	53
Date of Notice	12 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick George Dunn	Grace Dalrymple Hunter
	💍 1920/5298
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic Duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	2857
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Ven Archdeacon J. A. Jacob, Anglican

15 March 1920

William John Henry Dashwood
Alice Johnson Storrier

William John Henry Dashwood
Alice Johnson Storrier
💍 1920/5299

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant
School Teacher

23
23

Timaru
Timaru

7 months
15 months

Residence of Bride, No 5 Edward Street, Timaru

2858

15 March 1920

Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

No	54
Date of Notice	15 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Henry Dashwood	Alice Johnson Storrier
	💍 1920/5299
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	School Teacher
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	7 months	15 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride, No 5 Edward Street, Timaru
Folio	2858
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

16 March 1920

Patrick Francis Ryan
Catherine Veronica Stack

Patrick Francis Ryan
Catherine Veronica Stack
💍 1920/5300

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
29

St. Andrews
St. Andrews

18 years
20 years

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

2859

16 March 1920

Rev. M. B. Moloney, Roman Catholic

No	55
Date of Notice	16 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Francis Ryan	Catherine Veronica Stack
	💍 1920/5300
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	St. Andrews	St. Andrews
Length of Residence	18 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	2859
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. B. Moloney, Roman Catholic

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).