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 2983

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Dunedin Registrar A. H. Hindle

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

101

18 February 1921

John James Ryan
Elizabeth Ward

John James Ryan
Elizabeth Ward
💍 1921/8886

Widower (31:5:1918)
Divorced Decree Absolute (9:5:1902)

Labourer

43
48

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 months
3 months

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

1367

18 February 1921

Deputy Registrar

No	101
Date of Notice	18 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Ryan	Elizabeth Ward
	💍 1921/8886
Condition	Widower (31:5:1918)	Divorced Decree Absolute (9:5:1902)
Profession	Labourer
Age	43	48
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	1367
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

102

19 February 1921

Henry Austin Miller
Elsie Emiline Keogh

Henry Austin Miller
Elsie Emiline Keogh
💍 1921/8887

Bachelor
Widow (10:10:1917)

Hairdresser

28
28

Dunedin
Dunedin

28 years
19 years

Presbyterian Manse, Kaikorai

1368

19 February 1921

W. R. Hutchison, Presbyterian

No	102
Date of Notice	19 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Austin Miller	Elsie Emiline Keogh
	💍 1921/8887
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (10:10:1917)
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	28 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Kaikorai
Folio	1368
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1921
Officiating Minister	W. R. Hutchison, Presbyterian

103

21 February 1921

James Ritchie Kenyon
Jane Myra Kenny McLachlan

James Ritchie Kenyon
Jane Myra Kenny McLachlan
💍 1921/8888

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
21

Dunedin
Fairfield

3 days
21 years

St. Peters Church, Caversham

1369

21 February 1921

W. Uphill, Anglican

No	103
Date of Notice	21 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Ritchie Kenyon	Jane Myra Kenny McLachlan
	💍 1921/8888
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Fairfield
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Caversham
Folio	1369
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1921
Officiating Minister	W. Uphill, Anglican

104

21 February 1921

Arthur Bruce Toomer
Josephine Ethel Taylor

Arthur Bruce Toomer
Josephine Ethel Taylor
💍 1921/10157

Bachelor
Spinster

Signwriter

23
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

8 years
6 years

St. Patricks Basilica, South Dunedin

2954

21 February 1921

J. P. Delany, Roman Catholic

No	104
Date of Notice	21 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Bruce Toomer	Josephine Ethel Taylor
	💍 1921/10157
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Signwriter
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	8 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Basilica, South Dunedin
Folio	2954
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1921
Officiating Minister	J. P. Delany, Roman Catholic

105

21 February 1921

Alexander Bell
Metta Gwendoline Park

Alexander Bell
Metta Gwendoline Park
💍 1921/8889

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

25
30

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 days
30 years

St. Andrews Bible School, Carroll Street, Dunedin

1370

21 February 1921

R. Waddell, Presbyterian

No	105
Date of Notice	21 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Bell	Metta Gwendoline Park
	💍 1921/8889
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	25	30
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 days	30 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Bible School, Carroll Street, Dunedin
Folio	1370
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1921
Officiating Minister	R. Waddell, 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).