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 2866

District of 31 December 1921 Quarter ending Timaru Registrar A. U. Oakley

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

145

21 November 1921

Alexander Baird
Agnes Jemina Annand

Alexander Baird
Agnes Jemima Annand
💍 1921/6261

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Shop assistant

39
31

Timaru
Timaru

Life
Life

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

10384

21 November 1921

Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

No	145
Date of Notice	21 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Baird	Agnes Jemina Annand
BDM Match (97%)	Alexander Baird	Agnes Jemima Annand
	💍 1921/6261
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Shop assistant
Age	39	31
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	10384
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

146

22 November 1921

John Joseph McGillen
Margaret Feeley

John Joseph McGillen
Margaret Feeley
💍 1921/6238

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

31
25

Timaru
Timaru

4 years

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

10385

22 November 1921

Rev. S. W. Hurley, Roman Catholic

No	146
Date of Notice	22 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph McGillen	Margaret Feeley
	💍 1921/6238
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence		4 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	10385
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 November 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. W. Hurley, Roman Catholic

147

23 November 1921

Samuel Cunningham
Ellen Maud Fletcher

Samuel Cunningham
Ellen Maud Fletcher
💍 1921/6239

Widower (17/9/1916)
Widow (27/2/1912)

Retired Farmer
Domestic Duties

56
53

Timaru
Timaru

2 years
2 years

Highfield Presbyterian Church, Timaru

10386

23 November 1921

Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

No	147
Date of Notice	23 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Cunningham	Ellen Maud Fletcher
	💍 1921/6239
Condition	Widower (17/9/1916)	Widow (27/2/1912)
Profession	Retired Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	56	53
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Highfield Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	10386
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 November 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

148

25 November 1921

Arnold Redvers Martin
Elizabeth Margaret O'Shea

Arnold Redvers Martin
Elizabeth Margaret O'Shea
💍 1921/6240

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic Duties

21
19

Timaru
Timaru

5 years
5 years

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

10387

Mother of bride deceased. Father is non compos mentis. Marriage declared to be a proper one by Mr Justice Adams, Supreme Court, under Section 20.

25 November 1921

Rev. J. M. O'Ferrall, Roman Catholic

No	148
Date of Notice	25 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arnold Redvers Martin	Elizabeth Margaret O'Shea
	💍 1921/6240
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	10387
Consent	Mother of bride deceased. Father is non compos mentis. Marriage declared to be a proper one by Mr Justice Adams, Supreme Court, under Section 20.
Date of Certificate	25 November 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. O'Ferrall, Roman Catholic

149

26 November 1921

Robert Oswald Condon
Marguerite Isabel McHattie

Robert Oswald Condon
Marguerite Isabel McHattie
💍 1921/6241

Bachelor
Spinster

Auctioneer
Clerk

29
27

Timaru
Timaru

7 years
7 years

Highfield Presbyterian Church, Timaru

10388

26 November 1921

Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

No	149
Date of Notice	26 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Oswald Condon	Marguerite Isabel McHattie
	💍 1921/6241
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer	Clerk
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Highfield Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	10388
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Begg, 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).