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 2841

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Timaru Registrar Leslie G. Bruce

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

19 February 1921

Frederick Francis Mowat
Gladys Hannah Emerson

Frederick Francis Mowat
Gladys Hannah Emerson
💍 1921/9969

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

33
32

Timaru
Sutherland

10 days
10 days

Bank St Methodist Church, Timaru

2664

19 February 1921

Rev. W. A. Hay, Methodist

No	31
Date of Notice	19 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Francis Mowat	Gladys Hannah Emerson
	💍 1921/9969
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	33	32
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Sutherland
Length of Residence	10 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Bank St Methodist Church, Timaru
Folio	2664
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Hay, Methodist

24 February 1921

William Michael Dirren
Janet Allison Wilson

William Michael Direen
Janet Allison Wilson
💍 1921/9946

Bachelor
Spinster

Linotype Operator
Saleswoman

25
25

Temuka
Timaru

6 years
6 years

Roman Catholic Church, Temuka

2665

24 February 1921

Rev. J. Barra, Roman Catholic

No	32
Date of Notice	24 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Michael Dirren	Janet Allison Wilson
BDM Match (98%)	William Michael Direen	Janet Allison Wilson
	💍 1921/9946
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linotype Operator	Saleswoman
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Timaru
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Temuka
Folio	2665
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Barra, Roman Catholic

26 February 1921

Frederick McMillan
Marewa Muriel Arthur

Frederick McMillan
Marewa Muriel Arthur
💍 1921/9947

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

33
28

St Andrews
St Andrews

9 months
9 months

Highfield Presbyterian Church, Timaru

2666

26 February 1921

Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

No	33
Date of Notice	26 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick McMillan	Marewa Muriel Arthur
	💍 1921/9947
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	St Andrews	St Andrews
Length of Residence	9 months	9 months
Marriage Place	Highfield Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	2666
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

1 March 1921

Roland Henry Denton
Elspeth Anne Armstrong

Roland Henry Denton
Elspeth Anne Armstrong
💍 1921/10921

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

26
26

Timaru
Timaru

5 years
5 years

Highfield Presbyterian Church, Timaru

2667

1 March 1921

Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

No	34
Date of Notice	1 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roland Henry Denton	Elspeth Anne Armstrong
	💍 1921/10921
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Highfield Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	2667
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

1 March 1921

Thomas Adam Adamson
Dorothy Barbara Foster

Thomas Adam Adamson
Dorothy Barbara Foster
💍 1921/9948

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

23
20

Waimate
Timaru

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Waimate

2668

George Foster, Father

1 March 1921

Leslie G. Bruce, Deputy Registrar

No	35
Date of Notice	1 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Adam Adamson	Dorothy Barbara Foster
	💍 1921/9948
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Waimate
Folio	2668
Consent	George Foster, Father
Date of Certificate	1 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Leslie G. Bruce, Deputy Registrar

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).