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 2974

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

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

25 January 1921

James Andrew Skinner
Mary Maud Boustead

James Andrew Skinner
Mary Maud Boustead
💍 1921/8747

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

34
28

Dunedin
Dunedin

34 years
5 weeks

Residence of Miss Holford, Macandrews Bay

1323

25 January 1921

W. F. Evans, Presbyterian

No	56
Date of Notice	25 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Andrew Skinner	Mary Maud Boustead
	💍 1921/8747
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	34 years	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Miss Holford, Macandrews Bay
Folio	1323
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1921
Officiating Minister	W. F. Evans, Presbyterian

25 January 1921

Thomas Henry Victor Dickel
Doris Ethel Tripp

Thomas Henry Victor Dickel
Doris Ethel Tripp
💍 1921/8749

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

23
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

23 years
15 years

Presbyterian Church, South Dunedin

1324

Elizabeth Tripp, Mother

25 January 1921

R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

No	57
Date of Notice	25 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Victor Dickel	Doris Ethel Tripp
	💍 1921/8749
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	23 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, South Dunedin
Folio	1324
Consent	Elizabeth Tripp, Mother
Date of Certificate	25 January 1921
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

25 January 1921

William John Thomas McIntosh
Catherine Edith Margaret Clyma

William John Thomas McIntosh
Catherine Edith Margaret Clyma
💍 1921/8750

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
17

Dunedin
Dunedin

21 years
8 years

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

1325

John Albert Cyril Clyma, Father

25 January 1921

Deputy Registrar

No	58
Date of Notice	25 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Thomas McIntosh	Catherine Edith Margaret Clyma
	💍 1921/8750
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	17
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	21 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	1325
Consent	John Albert Cyril Clyma, Father
Date of Certificate	25 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

27 January 1921

David Dunsmuir
Mary Jane Towne

David Dunsmuir
Mary Jane Towne
💍 1921/8751

Widower (16-5-1917)
Widow (27-4-1919)

Miner

67
63

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 months
8 years

Residence of Mr. J. Froggatt, 468 Cumberland Street, Dunedin

1326

27 January 1921

E. A. Axelsen, Presbyterian

No	59
Date of Notice	27 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Dunsmuir	Mary Jane Towne
	💍 1921/8751
Condition	Widower (16-5-1917)	Widow (27-4-1919)
Profession	Miner
Age	67	63
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 months	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Froggatt, 468 Cumberland Street, Dunedin
Folio	1326
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1921
Officiating Minister	E. A. Axelsen, Presbyterian

28 January 1921

David Boyce
Maggie Smith

David Boyce
Maggie Smith
💍 1921/8752

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

23
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

7 months
7 months

Residence of Mr. H. McMurray, 29, Bernard Street, Mornington

1327

28 January 1921

B. F. Rothwell, Methodist

No	60
Date of Notice	28 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Boyce	Maggie Smith
	💍 1921/8752
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 months	7 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. H. McMurray, 29, Bernard Street, Mornington
Folio	1327
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1921
Officiating Minister	B. F. Rothwell, Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).