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 3142

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar A. U. Dakey

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

132

14 July 1920

Arthur Hamilton Dickinson
Mary Ballantyne

Arthur Hamilton Dickinson
Mary Ballantyne
💍 1920/9052

Bachelor
Spinster

Borough Inspector
Saleswoman

27
27

Timaru
Timaru

2 months
3 days

Chalmers Presbyterian Church Timaru

8928

14 July 1920

Rev. E. R. Harries, Presbyterian

No	132
Date of Notice	14 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Hamilton Dickinson	Mary Ballantyne
	💍 1920/9052
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Borough Inspector	Saleswoman
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	2 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church Timaru
Folio	8928
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. R. Harries, Presbyterian

133

16 July 1920

James David McConachy
Lillian Jessie Oughton

James David McConachy
Lillian Jessie Oughton
💍 1920/9053

Divorced decree absolute 13/7/20
Spinster

Accountant
Furrier

23
26

Timaru
Timaru

12 years
3 weeks

Trinity Presbyterian Church Timaru

8929

16 July 1920

Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

No	133
Date of Notice	16 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James David McConachy	Lillian Jessie Oughton
	💍 1920/9053
Condition	Divorced decree absolute 13/7/20	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Furrier
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	12 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Trinity Presbyterian Church Timaru
Folio	8929
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

134

19 July 1920

William Joseph Sullivan
Mary Hartnett

William Joseph Sullivan
Mary Hartnett
💍 1920/9054

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
24

St. Andrews
St. Andrews

Life
13 years

Roman Catholic Church St. Andrews

8930

19 July 1920

Rev. M. B. Moloney, Roman Catholic

No	134
Date of Notice	19 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph Sullivan	Mary Hartnett
	💍 1920/9054
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	St. Andrews	St. Andrews
Length of Residence	Life	13 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church St. Andrews
Folio	8930
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. B. Moloney, Roman Catholic

135

19 July 1920

Leslie James Waterreus
Elizabeth Brown Ramsay

Leslie James Waterreus
Elizabeth Brown Ramsay
💍 1920/9055

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheese Maker
Domestic Duties

26
26

Timaru
Timaru

14 days
15 years

Highfield Presbyterian Church Timaru

8931

19 July 1920

Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

No	135
Date of Notice	19 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie James Waterreus	Elizabeth Brown Ramsay
	💍 1920/9055
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheese Maker	Domestic Duties
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	14 days	15 years
Marriage Place	Highfield Presbyterian Church Timaru
Folio	8931
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

136

21 July 1920

Harry Henry Hanson
Muriel Pearl Adelaide Lange

Harry Henry Hanson
Muriel Pearl Adelaide Lange
💍 1920/9056

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

25
21

Pareora
Pareora

Life
12 years

Registrar's Office Timaru

8932

21 July 1920

A. U. Dakey, Registrar

No	136
Date of Notice	21 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Henry Hanson	Muriel Pearl Adelaide Lange
	💍 1920/9056
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Pareora	Pareora
Length of Residence	Life	12 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Timaru
Folio	8932
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1920
Officiating Minister	A. U. Dakey, Registrar

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).