Intentions to Marry, 1921 Cust to Dunedin

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840502, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1921 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.

1921g contains pages 2691-3126, covering districts from Cust to Dunedin

Page 2703

District of 30 September 1921 Quarter ending Ellesmere Registrar Patrick John Sceleton

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

7/21

30 July 1921

Gustave Victor Berg
Elizabeth Welsh

Gustave Victor Berg
Elizabeth Welsh
💍 1921/4477

Bachelor
Spinster

Warder
Domestic Duties

24
23

Southbridge
Darfield

Catholic Church, Darfield

30 July 1921

Rev. J. Hanrahan, Darfield

No	7/21
Date of Notice	30 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gustave Victor Berg	Elizabeth Welsh
	💍 1921/4477
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warder	Domestic Duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Southbridge	Darfield
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Darfield
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hanrahan, Darfield

8/21

9 August 1921

James Seaton McClelland
Ella Kibblewhite

James Seaton McClelland
Ella Kibblewhite
💍 1921/4456

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

39
33

Southbridge
Southbridge

Life
17 years

Presbyterian Church, Southbridge

7774

9 August 1921

Rev. T. G. Butler, Southbridge

No	8/21
Date of Notice	9 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Seaton McClelland	Ella Kibblewhite
	💍 1921/4456
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	39	33
Dwelling Place	Southbridge	Southbridge
Length of Residence	Life	17 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Southbridge
Folio	7774
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. G. Butler, Southbridge

9/21

26 August 1921

James Lambie
Isabel Stirling Campbell

James Lambie
Isabel Stirling Campbell
💍 1921/4457

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
23

Lakeside
Southbridge

Life
Life

Presbyterian Church, Southbridge

7775

26 August 1921

Rev. T. G. Butler, Southbridge

No	9/21
Date of Notice	26 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Lambie	Isabel Stirling Campbell
	💍 1921/4457
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Lakeside	Southbridge
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Southbridge
Folio	7775
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. G. Butler, Southbridge

10/21

20 September 1921

Arthur David Nichols
Sarah Bessie Orton Manson

Arthur David Nichols
Sarah Bessie Orton Manson
💍 1921/4465

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

26
24

Leeston
Leeston

4 years
10 years

Presbyterian Manse, Leeston

7776

20 September 1921

Rev. E. W. Walker, Leeston

No	10/21
Date of Notice	20 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur David Nichols	Sarah Bessie Orton Manson
	💍 1921/4465
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Leeston	Leeston
Length of Residence	4 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Leeston
Folio	7776
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. W. Walker, Leeston

11/21

21 September 1921

Eric Samuel McGill
Mary Margaret Clephane

Eric Samuel McGill
Mary Margaret Clephane
💍 1921/4476

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

22
23

Taumutu
Taumutu

Life
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Leeston

7777

21 September 1921

Rev. E. W. Walker, Leeston

No	11/21
Date of Notice	21 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Samuel McGill	Mary Margaret Clephane
	💍 1921/4476
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Taumutu	Taumutu
Length of Residence	Life	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Leeston
Folio	7777
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. W. Walker, Leeston

12/21

21 September 1921

Francis Moffatt Hampton
Jessie Haley

Francis Moffatt Hampton
Jeanie Haley
💍 1921/4483

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
20

Southbridge
Southbridge

12 years
Life

Anglican Church, Southbridge

7778

Kate Haley, stepmother, Guardian

21 September 1921

Rev. A. G. Hawkins, Southbridge

No	12/21
Date of Notice	21 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Moffatt Hampton	Jessie Haley
BDM Match (92%)	Francis Moffatt Hampton	Jeanie Haley
	💍 1921/4483
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Southbridge	Southbridge
Length of Residence	12 years	Life
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Southbridge
Folio	7778
Consent	Kate Haley, stepmother, Guardian
Date of Certificate	21 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Hawkins, Southbridge

13/21

1 October 1921

Frederick John Boal
Elsie May Adams

Frederick John Boal
Elsie May Adams
💍 1921/4484

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

24
23

Killinchy
Killinchy

Life
Life

Presbyterian Church, Leeston

7779

1 October 1921

Rev. E. W. Walker, Leeston

No	13/21
Date of Notice	1 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick John Boal	Elsie May Adams
	💍 1921/4484
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Killinchy	Killinchy
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Leeston
Folio	7779
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. W. Walker, Leeston

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).