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 2831

District of 31 December 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

6 October 1921

Fredrick William Newman
Ellen Yarde

Frederick William Newman
Ellen Zarde
💍 1921/6214

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

21
24

Temuka
Temuka

2 years
1 year

Roman Catholic Church, Temuka

10361

6 October 1921

D. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

No	32
Date of Notice	6 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fredrick William Newman	Ellen Yarde
BDM Match (93%)	Frederick William Newman	Ellen Zarde
	💍 1921/6214
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Temuka
Folio	10361
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1921
Officiating Minister	D. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

10 October 1921

George Henry Broom
Elizabeth Ann Looker

George Henry Broome
Elizabeth Ann Looker
💍 1921/6215

Divorced (Decree Absolute 6-9-1913)
Spinster

Milk Vendor
Domestic Duties

51
34

Temuka
Temuka

2 days
20 years

Residence of Mrs. M. Looker, 310 King Street, Temuka

10362

10 October 1921

Herbert Wyatt, Salvation Army

No	33
Date of Notice	10 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Broom	Elizabeth Ann Looker
BDM Match (97%)	George Henry Broome	Elizabeth Ann Looker
	💍 1921/6215
Condition	Divorced (Decree Absolute 6-9-1913)	Spinster
Profession	Milk Vendor	Domestic Duties
Age	51	34
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	2 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. M. Looker, 310 King Street, Temuka
Folio	10362
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Herbert Wyatt, Salvation Army

10 October 1921

Jeremiah Carmody
Ellen Burns

Jeremiah Carmody
Ellen Burns
💍 1921/6216

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Clerk

37
29

Kerrytown, Temuka
Milford, Temuka

14 years
7 years

St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, Temuka

10363

10 October 1921

D. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

No	34
Date of Notice	10 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jeremiah Carmody	Ellen Burns
	💍 1921/6216
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Clerk
Age	37	29
Dwelling Place	Kerrytown, Temuka	Milford, Temuka
Length of Residence	14 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, Temuka
Folio	10363
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1921
Officiating Minister	D. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

25 October 1921

Norman Alexander Baillie
Myrtle Woodfine Collins

Norman Alexander Baillie
Myrtle Woodfine Collins
💍 1921/6217

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Domestic Duties

27
22

Temuka
Temuka

3 days
22 years

Methodist Church, King Street, Temuka

10364

25 October 1921

J. J. Harris, Methodist

No	35
Date of Notice	25 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Alexander Baillie	Myrtle Woodfine Collins
	💍 1921/6217
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Domestic Duties
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, King Street, Temuka
Folio	10364
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 1921
Officiating Minister	J. J. Harris, Methodist

28 October 1921

Benjamin Jones
Rose Lilian Haar

Benjamin Jones
Rose Lilian Haar
💍 1921/6218

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
22

Fairlie
Temuka

25 years
22 years

Roman Catholic Church, Temuka

10365

28 October 1921

E. E. Kimbell, Roman Catholic

No	36
Date of Notice	28 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Jones	Rose Lilian Haar
	💍 1921/6218
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Fairlie	Temuka
Length of Residence	25 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Temuka
Folio	10365
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1921
Officiating Minister	E. E. Kimbell, Roman Catholic

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).