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 3162

District of Waimate Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar W. L. Thomas

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

29 January 1920

Ernest Cecil Wright
Rose Hayman

Ernest Cecil Wright
Rose Hayman
💍 1920/5380

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

20
20

Willowbridge
Studholme

9 years
20 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages Waimate

2880

William Richard Wright father Walter Hayman Father

29 January 1920

W. L. Thomas, Registrar of Marriages

No	6
Date of Notice	29 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Cecil Wright	Rose Hayman
	💍 1920/5380
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Willowbridge	Studholme
Length of Residence	9 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages Waimate
Folio	2880
Consent	William Richard Wright father Walter Hayman Father
Date of Certificate	29 January 1920
Officiating Minister	W. L. Thomas, Registrar of Marriages

3 February 1920

Albert Bartley
Edith Chapman Wilson

Albert Henry Bartley
Edith Chapman Wilson
💍 1920/5508

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer
Waitress

23
22

Waimate
Waimate

5 days
18 years

Church of England Waimate

3241

3 February 1920

Rev. J. A. Julius, Church of England

No	7
Date of Notice	3 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Bartley	Edith Chapman Wilson
BDM Match (85%)	Albert Henry Bartley	Edith Chapman Wilson
	💍 1920/5508
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer	Waitress
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	5 days	18 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Waimate
Folio	3241
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Julius, Church of England

9 February 1920

Herbert Jacques
Annie Raeside

Herbert Jacques
Annie Raeside
💍 1920/5391

Bachelor
Widow 1-10-16

Labourer
Domestic Duties

36
43

Morven
Morven

4 days
1 month

The Manse Morven

2881

9 February 1920

Rev. R. Dickie, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	9 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Jacques	Annie Raeside
	💍 1920/5391
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 1-10-16
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	36	43
Dwelling Place	Morven	Morven
Length of Residence	4 days	1 month
Marriage Place	The Manse Morven
Folio	2881
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Dickie, Presbyterian

11 February 1920

William Ely
Florence Ann Sandland

William Ely
Florence Ann Sandland
💍 1920/5398

Widower 14-6-18
Spinster

Retired
Seamstress

76
43

Waimate
Waimate

45 years
7 weeks

Office of Registrar of Marriages Waimate

2882

11 February 1920

W. L. Thomas, Registrar of Marriages

No	9
Date of Notice	11 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ely	Florence Ann Sandland
	💍 1920/5398
Condition	Widower 14-6-18	Spinster
Profession	Retired	Seamstress
Age	76	43
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	45 years	7 weeks
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages Waimate
Folio	2882
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1920
Officiating Minister	W. L. Thomas, Registrar of Marriages

27 February 1920

James Arthur Spencer Hunt
Florence Winifred Kelly

James Arthur Spencer Hunt
Florence Winifred Kelly
💍 1920/5399

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruitgrower
Florist

24
21

Waimate
Waimate

14 years
7 months

Presbyterian Church Waimate

2883

27 February 1920

Rev. J. D. Wilson, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	27 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Arthur Spencer Hunt	Florence Winifred Kelly
	💍 1920/5399
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruitgrower	Florist
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	14 years	7 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Waimate
Folio	2883
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Wilson, 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).