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 3358

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar A. Marshall

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

513

29 July 1920

Peter Hercus
Marion Ramsay Gilmour

Peter Hercus
Marion Ramsay Gilmour
💍 1920/7746

Bachelor
Spinster

Public Accountant

49
42

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
42 years

Baptist Church, Hanover Street, Dunedin

7599

29 July 1920

H. Knowles Kempton, Baptist

No	513
Date of Notice	29 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Hercus	Marion Ramsay Gilmour
	💍 1920/7746
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Public Accountant
Age	49	42
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	42 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Hanover Street, Dunedin
Folio	7599
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1920
Officiating Minister	H. Knowles Kempton, Baptist

514

29 July 1920

Hugh Douglas MacPherson
Mary Ann McFelin

Hugh Douglas Macpherson
Mary Ann McFelin
💍 1920/7754

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

St. Patrick's Basilica, South Dunedin

7600

29 July 1920

R. Graham, Roman Catholic

No	514
Date of Notice	29 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Douglas MacPherson	Mary Ann McFelin
BDM Match (98%)	Hugh Douglas Macpherson	Mary Ann McFelin
	💍 1920/7754
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Basilica, South Dunedin
Folio	7600
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1920
Officiating Minister	R. Graham, Roman Catholic

515

30 July 1920

Robert William Timlin
Gwendoline Madge Templeton

Robert William Timlin
Gwendoline Madge Templeton
💍 1920/7765

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Trimmer

23
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

23 years
23 years

St. Matthew's Church, Dunedin

7601

30 July 1920

W. Burgon Biggers, Church of England

No	515
Date of Notice	30 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William Timlin	Gwendoline Madge Templeton
	💍 1920/7765
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Trimmer
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	23 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Dunedin
Folio	7601
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1920
Officiating Minister	W. Burgon Biggers, Church of England

516

30 July 1920

John Thompson
Barbara Priscilla Abernethy

John Thompson
Barbara Priscilla Abernetby
💍 1920/7772

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker

25
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 weeks
19 years

First Church, Dunedin

7602

30 July 1920

R. Watson, Presbyterian

No	516
Date of Notice	30 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thompson	Barbara Priscilla Abernethy
BDM Match (98%)	John Thompson	Barbara Priscilla Abernetby
	💍 1920/7772
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 weeks	19 years
Marriage Place	First Church, Dunedin
Folio	7602
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1920
Officiating Minister	R. Watson, Presbyterian

517

30 July 1920

Alexander Milne Denniston
Theresa Amelia Polair

Alexander Milne Denniston
Theresa Amelia Blair
💍 1920/7773

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
18

Dunedin
Dunedin

21 years
4 years

St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin

7603

James Robert Blair (Father)

30 July 1920

J. Coffey, Roman Catholic

No	517
Date of Notice	30 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Milne Denniston	Theresa Amelia Polair
BDM Match (95%)	Alexander Milne Denniston	Theresa Amelia Blair
	💍 1920/7773
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	21 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	7603
Consent	James Robert Blair (Father)
Date of Certificate	30 July 1920
Officiating Minister	J. Coffey, 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).