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 2853

District of 30 June 1921 Quarter ending Timaru 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

24 May 1921

Oliver Cromwell Stanbury
Ada Mary Simmons

Oliver Cromwell Stanbury
Ada Mary Simmons
💍 1921/879

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

28
24

Timaru
Kingsdown

3 days
3 days

Methodist Church, Bank Street, Timaru

5409

24 May 1921

Rev. W. A. Hay, Methodist

No	85
Date of Notice	24 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oliver Cromwell Stanbury	Ada Mary Simmons
	💍 1921/879
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Kingsdown
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Bank Street, Timaru
Folio	5409
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Hay, Methodist

25 May 1921

Selwyn Peter Hope
Cecile Palmer Chapman

Selwyn Peter Hope
Cecile Palmer Chapman
💍 1921/856

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Domestic Duties

32
19

Timaru
Salisbury

15 months
15 months

St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

5410

Edward Balmer Chapman, Father

25 May 1921

Rev. J. A. Julius, Anglican

No	86
Date of Notice	25 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Selwyn Peter Hope	Cecile Palmer Chapman
	💍 1921/856
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	19
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Salisbury
Length of Residence	15 months	15 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	5410
Consent	Edward Balmer Chapman, Father
Date of Certificate	25 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Julius, Anglican

24 May 1921

John Hildred Pollock
Anna Roberta Snushall

John Hildred Pollock
Anna Roberta Snushall
💍 1921/857

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
24

Fairlie
Timaru

3 days
3 days

Residence of Mrs. Fraser, 34 High Street, Timaru

5411

24 May 1921

Rev. J. D. Wilson, Presbyterian

No	87
Date of Notice	24 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hildred Pollock	Anna Roberta Snushall
	💍 1921/857
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Fairlie	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Fraser, 34 High Street, Timaru
Folio	5411
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Wilson, Presbyterian

24 May 1921

Fredrick David Martin
Betsy Eva Fenwick

Fredrick David Martin
Betsy Eva Fenwick
💍 1921/858

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

26
26

Otago
Timaru

Life
Life

Trinity Presbyterian Church, Timaru

5412

24 May 1921

Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

No	88
Date of Notice	24 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fredrick David Martin	Betsy Eva Fenwick
	💍 1921/858
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Otago	Timaru
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Trinity Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	5412
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

36 May 1921

Reginald Guy Wells
Winifred Gladys Wallis

Reginald Guy Wells
Winifred Gladys Wallis
💍 1921/859

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach Painter
Domestic Duties

27
24

Timaru
Timaru

5 weeks
5 weeks

Residence of Mrs. E. Wallis, 31 Maltby Avenue, Timaru

5413

36 May 1921

Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

No	89
Date of Notice	36 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Guy Wells	Winifred Gladys Wallis
	💍 1921/859
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach Painter	Domestic Duties
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	5 weeks	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. E. Wallis, 31 Maltby Avenue, Timaru
Folio	5413
Consent
Date of Certificate	36 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

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).