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 3199

District of Balclutha Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar G. Oliver

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

5 July 1920

George Ernest Somerville
Emily Agnes Carr

George Ernest Somerville
Emily Agnes Carr
💍 1920/9102

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

26
24

Waitepeka
Waitepeka

Life
1 year

Presbyterian Church, Warepa

8980

5 July 1920

Rev. William Roger Hume, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	5 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ernest Somerville	Emily Agnes Carr
	💍 1920/9102
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Waitepeka	Waitepeka
Length of Residence	Life	1 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Warepa
Folio	8980
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Roger Hume, Presbyterian

6 July 1920

William James Forbes
Margaret Fletcher

William James Forbes
Margaret Fletcher
💍 1920/9103

William James Madden
Violet Myrtle Fletcher
💍 1920/9264

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman
Domestic

36
38

Warepa
Waitepeka

1 year
2 years

House of William Fletcher, Waitepeka

8981

6 July 1920

Rev. William Roger Hume, Presbyterian

No	18
Date of Notice	6 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Forbes	Margaret Fletcher
	💍 1920/9103
BDM Match (60%)	William James Madden	Violet Myrtle Fletcher
	💍 1920/9264
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman	Domestic
Age	36	38
Dwelling Place	Warepa	Waitepeka
Length of Residence	1 year	2 years
Marriage Place	House of William Fletcher, Waitepeka
Folio	8981
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Roger Hume, Presbyterian

14 July 1920

David Milne
Mary Field McKinley

David Milne
May Field McKinlay
💍 1920/9104

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic

35
23

Stirling
Stirling

20 years
23 years

Registrar's Office, Balclutha

8982

14 July 1920

Registrar, Balclutha

No	19
Date of Notice	14 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Milne	Mary Field McKinley
BDM Match (95%)	David Milne	May Field McKinlay
	💍 1920/9104
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Stirling	Stirling
Length of Residence	20 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Balclutha
Folio	8982
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Balclutha

2 September 1920

Thomas Parker Dyer
Ethel Lynn Keach

Thomas Parker Dyer
Ethel Lynn Keach
💍 1920/9105

Widower 17 October 1907
Spinster

Storekeeper
Shop Assistant

49
22

Mossburn
Balclutha

14 years
1 month

Presbyterian Church, Balclutha

8983

2 September 1920

Rev. S. W. Currie, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	2 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Parker Dyer	Ethel Lynn Keach
	💍 1920/9105
Condition	Widower 17 October 1907	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Shop Assistant
Age	49	22
Dwelling Place	Mossburn	Balclutha
Length of Residence	14 years	1 month
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Balclutha
Folio	8983
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. W. Currie, Presbyterian

14 September 1920

Ernest Edward Reid
Mary Ann Victoria Barnett

Ernest Edward Reid
Mary Ann Victoria Barnett
💍 1920/9083

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

29
22

Stirling
Benhar

5 days
10 years

Presbyterian Church, Stirling

8984

14 September 1920

Rev. A. Alexander, Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	14 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Edward Reid	Mary Ann Victoria Barnett
	💍 1920/9083
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Stirling	Benhar
Length of Residence	5 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Stirling
Folio	8984
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Alexander, 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).