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 3108

District of 31 December 1921 Quarter ending Dunedin Registrar C. R. Mc[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

710

29 November 1921

Charles Frederick Verrall
Cecile Florence Pole

Charles Fredrick Verrall
Cecile Florence Pole
💍 1921/8677

Divorced Decree Absolute 28:10:1921
Divorced Decree Absolute 15:6:1919

Mechanic

40
32

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 days
3 days

Registrar's Office Dunedin

9372

29 November 1921

Registrar

No	710
Date of Notice	29 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Frederick Verrall	Cecile Florence Pole
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Fredrick Verrall	Cecile Florence Pole
	💍 1921/8677
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 28:10:1921	Divorced Decree Absolute 15:6:1919
Profession	Mechanic
Age	40	32
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Dunedin
Folio	9372
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 November 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar

711

29 November 1921

Lawrence Robinson
Elizabeth Thomson Schulenburg

Lawrence Robinson
Elizabeth Thomson Schulenburg
💍 1921/8678

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

36
36

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 day
36 years

Residence of Mr. L. Schulenburg, 323 Leith Street Dunedin

9373

29 November 1921

S. G. Griffith, Church of Christ

No	711
Date of Notice	29 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Robinson	Elizabeth Thomson Schulenburg
	💍 1921/8678
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	36	36
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 day	36 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. L. Schulenburg, 323 Leith Street Dunedin
Folio	9373
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 November 1921
Officiating Minister	S. G. Griffith, Church of Christ

712

2 December 1921

Sidney John Lyon
Ida Campbell

Sidney John Lyon
Ida Campbell
💍 1921/8679

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

37
35

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
35 years

Presbyterian Church Caversham

9374

2 December 1921

F. M. Beattie, Presbyterian

No	712
Date of Notice	2 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney John Lyon	Ida Campbell
	💍 1921/8679
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	37	35
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	35 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Caversham
Folio	9374
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1921
Officiating Minister	F. M. Beattie, Presbyterian

713

2 December 1921

Angus Arthur Kingston Leitch
Alice McDougall

Angus Arthur Kingston Leitch
Alice McDougall
💍 1921/8680

Bachelor
Widow 6:10:1909

Labourer

42
42

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 weeks
5 weeks

Residence of Mr. L. Howard, 1 Clarke Street Dunedin

9375

2 December 1921

R. S. Allan, Presbyterian

No	713
Date of Notice	2 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Angus Arthur Kingston Leitch	Alice McDougall
	💍 1921/8680
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 6:10:1909
Profession	Labourer
Age	42	42
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 weeks	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. L. Howard, 1 Clarke Street Dunedin
Folio	9375
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1921
Officiating Minister	R. S. Allan, Presbyterian

714

3 December 1921

Ernest Mitchell Gabites
Christina Winifred Smaill

Ernest Mitchell Gabites
Christina Winifred Smaill
💍 1921/8590

Widower 22:12:1919
Spinster

Architect

31
26

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 days
8 years

Presbyterian Church Roslyn

9376

3 December 1921

E. J. Tipler, Presbyterian

No	714
Date of Notice	3 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Mitchell Gabites	Christina Winifred Smaill
	💍 1921/8590
Condition	Widower 22:12:1919	Spinster
Profession	Architect
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 days	8 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Roslyn
Folio	9376
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 December 1921
Officiating Minister	E. J. Tipler, 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).