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 2857

District of 30 September 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

102

4 July 1921

Jeremiah Yeadon
Elsie Maude Clarke

Jeremiah Yeadon
Elsie Maude Clarke
💍 1921/4536

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Clerk

28
25

Christchurch
18 Harper Street, Timaru

10 years
10 years

Methodist Church

7831

4 July 1921

Rev. A. O. Harris, Methodist

No	102
Date of Notice	4 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jeremiah Yeadon	Elsie Maude Clarke
	💍 1921/4536
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Clerk
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	18 Harper Street, Timaru
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church
Folio	7831
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. O. Harris, Methodist

103

5 July 1921

George Donald Herbert Pettigrew
Violet Elizabeth Kellahan

George Donald Herbert Pettigrew
Violet Elizabeth Kellahan
💍 1921/4537

Bachelor
Spinster

Wheelwright
Waitress

23
23

Timaru
Timaru

16 years
16 years

Methodist Church, Kensington, Timaru

7832

5 July 1921

Rev. W. A. Hay, Methodist

No	103
Date of Notice	5 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Donald Herbert Pettigrew	Violet Elizabeth Kellahan
	💍 1921/4537
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wheelwright	Waitress
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	16 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Kensington, Timaru
Folio	7832
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Hay, Methodist

104

8 July 1921

David John Burdom
Margaret Frances Lowe

David John Purdom
Margaret Frances Lowe
💍 1921/4538

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

23
21

Timaru
Timaru

20 years
20 years

Baptist Church, Timaru

7833

8 July 1921

Rev. E. Nicholls, Baptist

No	104
Date of Notice	8 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David John Burdom	Margaret Frances Lowe
BDM Match (97%)	David John Purdom	Margaret Frances Lowe
	💍 1921/4538
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Timaru
Folio	7833
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Nicholls, Baptist

105

11 July 1921

James Hugh Murphy
Margaret Elizabeth Ryan

James Hugh Murphy
Margaret Elizabeth Ryan
💍 1921/4539

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
32

Timaru
Timaru

6 years
6 years

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

7834

11 July 1921

Rev. E. Kimbell, Roman Catholic

No	105
Date of Notice	11 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hugh Murphy	Margaret Elizabeth Ryan
	💍 1921/4539
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	32
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	7834
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Kimbell, Roman Catholic

106

12 July 1921

David Adamson Clarke
Olive Elizabeth Sara Cooper

David Adamson Clarke
Olive Elizabeth Sara Cooper
💍 1921/4516

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Clerk

25
24

Timaru
Timaru

22 years
22 years

Trinity Presbyterian Church, Timaru

7835

12 July 1921

Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

No	106
Date of Notice	12 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Adamson Clarke	Olive Elizabeth Sara Cooper
	💍 1921/4516
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Clerk
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	22 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	7835
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Stinson, 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).