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 3276

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar M. Schneider

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

116

20 February 1920

John William Reid
Hannah Cooper

John William Reid
Hannah Cooper
💍 1920/3599

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
4 months Roslyn

House of Mrs Reid, 27 View Street, Dunedin

1942

20 February 1920

C. Dallaston, Baptist

No	116
Date of Notice	20 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Reid	Hannah Cooper
	💍 1920/3599
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	4 months Roslyn
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Reid, 27 View Street, Dunedin
Folio	1942
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1920
Officiating Minister	C. Dallaston, Baptist

117

20 February 1920

William Henry Jamieson
Ruby Allison McEwen

William Henry Jamieson
Ruby Allison McEwen
💍 1920/3600

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Stationmaster

27
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 week
25 years

Presbyterian Church, Caversham

1943

20 February 1920

D. Dutton, Presbyterian

No	117
Date of Notice	20 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Jamieson	Ruby Allison McEwen
	💍 1920/3600
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Stationmaster
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 week	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Caversham
Folio	1943
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1920
Officiating Minister	D. Dutton, Presbyterian

118

23 February 1920

George Patrick Morrisey
Eileen Mary Wood

George Patrick Morrissey
Aileen Mary Wood
💍 1920/3602

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Fireman

26
20

St. Kilda
St. Kilda

3 years
20 years South Dunedin

St. Patricks Basilica

1944

Joseph Wood (Father)

23 February 1920

P. Graham, Roman Catholic

No	118
Date of Notice	23 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Patrick Morrisey	Eileen Mary Wood
BDM Match (95%)	George Patrick Morrissey	Aileen Mary Wood
	💍 1920/3602
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Fireman
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	St. Kilda	St. Kilda
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years South Dunedin
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Basilica
Folio	1944
Consent	Joseph Wood (Father)
Date of Certificate	23 February 1920
Officiating Minister	P. Graham, Roman Catholic

119

23 February 1920

James Shivas Yeoman
Martha Snell

James Shivas Yeoman
Martha Snell
💍 1920/3603

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 months
10 years Dunedin

Knox Church, Dunedin

1945

23 February 1920

R. Jarmain, Presbyterian

No	119
Date of Notice	23 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Shivas Yeoman	Martha Snell
	💍 1920/3603
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 months	10 years Dunedin
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Dunedin
Folio	1945
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1920
Officiating Minister	R. Jarmain, Presbyterian

120

24 February 1920

Oliver Paul Williams
Ethel Annie Mayall

Oliver Paul Williams
Ethel Annie Mayall
💍 1920/3604

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

40
29

Dunedin
Dunedin

25 years
18 years South Dunedin

Residence of Mr. J. W. Mayall, 38 Warrender Street, Dunedin

1946

24 February 1920

H. Ford, Methodist

No	120
Date of Notice	24 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oliver Paul Williams	Ethel Annie Mayall
	💍 1920/3604
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	40	29
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	25 years	18 years South Dunedin
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. W. Mayall, 38 Warrender Street, Dunedin
Folio	1946
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1920
Officiating Minister	H. Ford, Methodist

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).