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 3051

District of 30 September 1921 Quarter ending Dunedin Registrar [illegible]

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

431

1 July 1921

David Spence
Euphemia Cassells Warren

David Spence
Euphemia Cassells Warren
💍 1921/2114

Widower
Widow

Carter

44
47

Dunedin
Dunedin

44 years
47 years

First Church Manse, Dunedin

6726

1 July 1921

G.H. Balfour, Presbyterian

No	431
Date of Notice	1 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Spence	Euphemia Cassells Warren
	💍 1921/2114
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Carter
Age	44	47
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	44 years	47 years
Marriage Place	First Church Manse, Dunedin
Folio	6726
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1921
Officiating Minister	G.H. Balfour, Presbyterian

432

1 July 1921

George Rawcliffe
Kathleen Lilien McCullough

George Rawcliffe
Kathleen Lilian McCullough
💍 1921/2125

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
26

Dunedin
Ida Valley

1 week
12 years

Presbyterian Manse, South Dunedin

6727

1 July 1921

R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

No	432
Date of Notice	1 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Rawcliffe	Kathleen Lilien McCullough
BDM Match (98%)	George Rawcliffe	Kathleen Lilian McCullough
	💍 1921/2125
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Ida Valley
Length of Residence	1 week	12 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, South Dunedin
Folio	6727
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1921
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

433

1 July 1921

Frank Switalli
Mary McGregor Downes

Frank Switalli
Mary McGregor Downes
💍 1921/3550

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
19

Dunedin
Evansdale

5 months
19 years

Residence of Mr. J. Storey, Evansdale

8194

James Storey (Guardian)

1 July 1921

J.C. Jamieson, Presbyterian

No	433
Date of Notice	1 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Switalli	Mary McGregor Downes
	💍 1921/3550
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Evansdale
Length of Residence	5 months	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Storey, Evansdale
Folio	8194
Consent	James Storey (Guardian)
Date of Certificate	1 July 1921
Officiating Minister	J.C. Jamieson, Presbyterian

434

4 July 1921

George Mitchell Cairns
Catherine Williamson

George Mitchell Cairns
Catherine Williamson
💍 1921/2132

Divorced Decree Absolute 1/12/1920
Widow 28/3/1916

Miner

37
30

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
6 months

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

6728

4 July 1921

Registrar

No	434
Date of Notice	4 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Mitchell Cairns	Catherine Williamson
	💍 1921/2132
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 1/12/1920	Widow 28/3/1916
Profession	Miner
Age	37	30
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	6728
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar

435

5 July 1921

Robert Edward Rae Mercer
Winifred Ann McNaughton Broadfoot

Robert Edward Rae Mercer
Winifred Ann McNaughton Broadfoot
💍 1921/2133

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

19
17

Dunedin
Dunedin

19 years
17 years

Presbyterian Manse, Young Street, St. Kilda

6729

R. Mercer (Father), W. Broadfoot (Father)

5 July 1921

R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

No	435
Date of Notice	5 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Edward Rae Mercer	Winifred Ann McNaughton Broadfoot
	💍 1921/2133
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	19	17
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	19 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Young Street, St. Kilda
Folio	6729
Consent	R. Mercer (Father), W. Broadfoot (Father)
Date of Certificate	5 July 1921
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid, 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).