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 3053

District of 30 September 1921 Quarter ending Dunedin Registrar C. H. [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

441

8 July 1921

James Timothy Mahoney
Ivy Ellen Millard

James Timothy Mahoney
Ivy Ellen Millard
💍 1921/2138

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk

20
23

Invercargill
Dunedin

Life
2 weeks

St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin

6734

M. Mahoney (Mother)

8 July 1921

M. Spillane, Roman Catholic

No	441
Date of Notice	8 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Timothy Mahoney	Ivy Ellen Millard
	💍 1921/2138
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk
Age	20	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Dunedin
Length of Residence	Life	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	6734
Consent	M. Mahoney (Mother)
Date of Certificate	8 July 1921
Officiating Minister	M. Spillane, Roman Catholic

442

9 July 1921

Alexander McKinnon
Ann McKay

Alexander McKinnon
Ann McKay
💍 1921/2115

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

40
31

Dunedin
Dunedin

13 years
7 years

Residence of Mr. G. Munro, 107 Highgate, Roslyn

6735

9 July 1921

W. R. Hutchison, Presbyterian

No	442
Date of Notice	9 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander McKinnon	Ann McKay
	💍 1921/2115
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	40	31
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	13 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. G. Munro, 107 Highgate, Roslyn
Folio	6735
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1921
Officiating Minister	W. R. Hutchison, Presbyterian

443

11 July 1921

Theodore Barclay
Annie de St. Croix Moys

Theodore Barclay
Annie de St Croix Moys
💍 1921/2116

Widower
Widow

Accountant

61
56

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 day
2 months

St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin

6736

11 July 1921

E. R. Nevill, Anglican

No	443
Date of Notice	11 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Theodore Barclay	Annie de St. Croix Moys
BDM Match (98%)	Theodore Barclay	Annie de St Croix Moys
	💍 1921/2116
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Accountant
Age	61	56
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 day	2 months
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	6736
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1921
Officiating Minister	E. R. Nevill, Anglican

444

11 July 1921

Charles Joseph Gordon Bennett
Barbara Oliver Aitken

Charles Joseph Gordon Bennett
Barbara Oliver Aitken
💍 1921/2117

Bachelor
Spinster

Moulder

35
38

Dunedin
Dunedin

28 years
4 years

St. Andrew's Church, Dunedin

6737

11 July 1921

H. Maclean, Presbyterian

No	444
Date of Notice	11 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Joseph Gordon Bennett	Barbara Oliver Aitken
	💍 1921/2117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Moulder
Age	35	38
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	28 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Dunedin
Folio	6737
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1921
Officiating Minister	H. Maclean, Presbyterian

445

11 July 1921

Albert Frank McGill
Doris May Blackie

Albert Frank McGill
Doris May Blackie
💍 1921/2118

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk

22
20

Dunedin
Katea

8 months
4 years

First Church, Dunedin

6738

W. G. Blackie (Father)

11 July 1921

G. H. Balfour, Presbyterian

No	445
Date of Notice	11 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Frank McGill	Doris May Blackie
	💍 1921/2118
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Katea
Length of Residence	8 months	4 years
Marriage Place	First Church, Dunedin
Folio	6738
Consent	W. G. Blackie (Father)
Date of Certificate	11 July 1921
Officiating Minister	G. H. Balfour, 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).