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 3096

District of 31 December 1921 Quarter ending Dunedin Registrar A. H. M. [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

650

31 October 1921

William Henry Hayward
Lilian Bertha Williams

William Henry Hayward
Lilian Bertha Williams
💍 1921/8543

William Henry Rivers
Ella Russell Williams
💍 1921/9215

Bachelor
Spinster

Tram Conductor

27
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
10 years

Church of Christ, King Street, Dunedin

9312

31 October 1921

S. G. Griffith, Church of Christ

No	650
Date of Notice	31 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Hayward	Lilian Bertha Williams
	💍 1921/8543
BDM Match (61%)	William Henry Rivers	Ella Russell Williams
	💍 1921/9215
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tram Conductor
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, King Street, Dunedin
Folio	9312
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1921
Officiating Minister	S. G. Griffith, Church of Christ

651

1 November 1921

Maurice O'Connor
Catherine Fitzpatrick

Maurice O'Connor
Catherine Fitzpatrick
💍 1921/8544

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

40
42

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
40 years

St. Patricks Basilica, South Dunedin

9313

1 November 1921

R. Graham, Roman Catholic

No	651
Date of Notice	1 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice O'Connor	Catherine Fitzpatrick
	💍 1921/8544
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	40	42
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	40 years
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Basilica, South Dunedin
Folio	9313
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 November 1921
Officiating Minister	R. Graham, Roman Catholic

652

1 November 1921

Ernest Joseph Orange
Florence Phillips Smith

Ernest Joseph Orange
Florence Phillips Smith
💍 1921/8545

Bachelor
Spinster

Minister of Religion

27
26

Dunedin
Dunedin

14 years
26 years

Presbyterian Church, North East Valley

9314

1 November 1921

R. E. Evans, Presbyterian

No	652
Date of Notice	1 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Joseph Orange	Florence Phillips Smith
	💍 1921/8545
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Minister of Religion
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	14 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, North East Valley
Folio	9314
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 November 1921
Officiating Minister	R. E. Evans, Presbyterian

653

1 November 1921

Alexander James McDonald
Margaret Griffen

Alexander James McDonald
Margaret Griffen
💍 1921/8546

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool and Skin Classer

29
29

Dunedin
St. Leonards

3 days
29 years

St. Josephs Cathedral, Dunedin

9315

1 November 1921

J. J. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	653
Date of Notice	1 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander James McDonald	Margaret Griffen
	💍 1921/8546
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool and Skin Classer
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	St. Leonards
Length of Residence	3 days	29 years
Marriage Place	St. Josephs Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	9315
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 November 1921
Officiating Minister	J. J. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

654

1 November 1921

John Henry McFelin
Evaline McDonald

John Henry McFelin
Evaline McDonald
💍 1921/8547

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
7 days

St. Patricks Basilica, South Dunedin

9316

J. McDonald (Father)

1 November 1921

J. P. Delany, Roman Catholic

No	654
Date of Notice	1 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry McFelin	Evaline McDonald
	💍 1921/8547
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Basilica, South Dunedin
Folio	9316
Consent	J. McDonald (Father)
Date of Certificate	1 November 1921
Officiating Minister	J. P. Delany, Roman Catholic

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).