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 2827

District of 30 September 1921 Quarter ending Temuka Registrar W. J. Gibbs

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

5 July 1921

Joseph Walker
Ruby Lilian Goodeve

Joseph Waller
Ruby Lilian Goodeve
💍 1921/4498

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

34
19

Geraldine
Winchester

Life
3 days

Church of England, Winchester

7817

Henry Leonard Goodeve, father

5 July 1921

A. H. Norris, Church of England

No	18
Date of Notice	5 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Walker	Ruby Lilian Goodeve
BDM Match (96%)	Joseph Waller	Ruby Lilian Goodeve
	💍 1921/4498
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	34	19
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Winchester
Length of Residence	Life	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Winchester
Folio	7817
Consent	Henry Leonard Goodeve, father
Date of Certificate	5 July 1921
Officiating Minister	A. H. Norris, Church of England

13 July 1921

Raymond Francis Leith
Grace Nilliken

Raymond Francis Leith
Grace Milliken
💍 1921/4499

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheese factory manager
Domestic duties

23
22

Otara
Temuka

2 years
10 months

Presbyterian Church, Temuka

7818

13 July 1921

W. Scorgie, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	13 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Francis Leith	Grace Nilliken
BDM Match (96%)	Raymond Francis Leith	Grace Milliken
	💍 1921/4499
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheese factory manager	Domestic duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Otara	Temuka
Length of Residence	2 years	10 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Temuka
Folio	7818
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1921
Officiating Minister	W. Scorgie, Presbyterian

13 July 1921

William Cross
Ellen Fawdray

William Cross
Ellen Fawdray
💍 1921/4500

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

59
45

Temuka
Temuka

3 years
45 years

Residence of Mr. James Duncan, 23 Wilkin Street, Temuka

7819

13 July 1921

F. J. Harris, Methodist

No	20
Date of Notice	13 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cross	Ellen Fawdray
	💍 1921/4500
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	59	45
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	3 years	45 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. James Duncan, 23 Wilkin Street, Temuka
Folio	7819
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1921
Officiating Minister	F. J. Harris, Methodist

24 July 1921

John William Tooley
Ellen Alderton Mills

John William Tooley
Ellen Alderton Mills
💍 1921/4502

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

23
24

Temuka
Temuka

23 years
24 years

Residence of Mr. Hugh Mills, Milford

7820

27 July 1921

W. Scorgie, Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	24 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Tooley	Ellen Alderton Mills
	💍 1921/4502
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	23 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Hugh Mills, Milford
Folio	7820
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1921
Officiating Minister	W. Scorgie, Presbyterian

29 July 1921

Charles Dunlop
Mary Tekoeti

Charles Dunlop
Mary Te Koeti
💍 1921/4503

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
Domestic duties

34
21

Arowhenua
Arowhenua

4 years
8 months

Registrar's office, Temuka

7821

1 August 1921

W. J. Gibbs, Registrar

No	22
Date of Notice	29 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Dunlop	Mary Tekoeti
BDM Match (92%)	Charles Dunlop	Mary Te Koeti
	💍 1921/4503
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	Domestic duties
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	Arowhenua	Arowhenua
Length of Residence	4 years	8 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's office, Temuka
Folio	7821
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1921
Officiating Minister	W. J. Gibbs, 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).