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 2860

District of 30 September 1921 Quarter ending Timaru Registrar A. U. Dakey

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

117

25 August 1921

Philip Sherry
Mary Elizabeth Slattery

Philip Sherry
Mary Elizabeth Slattery
💍 1921/4528

Bachelor
Spinster

Teamster
Domestic Duties

32
22

Timaru
Timaru

10 months
10 months

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

7846

25 August 1921

Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

No	117
Date of Notice	25 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Sherry	Mary Elizabeth Slattery
	💍 1921/4528
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teamster	Domestic Duties
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	10 months	10 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	7846
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

118

26 August 1921

William Andrew George Thomson
Susana Nelson

William Andrew George Thomson
Susanah Nelson
💍 1921/4529

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
Domestic Duties

38
20

Timaru
Cave

3 days
3 days

Chalmers Presbyterian Manse, Timaru

7847

John Nelson (Father)

26 August 1921

Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

No	118
Date of Notice	26 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Andrew George Thomson	Susana Nelson
BDM Match (96%)	William Andrew George Thomson	Susanah Nelson
	💍 1921/4529
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	38	20
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Cave
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Manse, Timaru
Folio	7847
Consent	John Nelson (Father)
Date of Certificate	26 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

119

26 August 1921

Benjamin Watson
Grace Ballagh

Benjamin Watson
Grace Ballagh
💍 1921/4530

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Tailoress

22
23

Timaru
Timaru

13 years
13 years

Registrar's Office, Timaru

7848

26 August 1921

A. U. Dakey, Registrar

No	119
Date of Notice	26 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Watson	Grace Ballagh
	💍 1921/4530
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Tailoress
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	13 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Timaru
Folio	7848
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1921
Officiating Minister	A. U. Dakey, Registrar

120

27 August 1921

Charles Smith Pillidge
Mary Elizabeth Turkington

Charles Smith Pillidge
Mary Elizabeth Turkington
💍 1921/4531

Widower
Spinster

Grocer's Assistant
Domestic Duties

33
26

Timaru
Timaru

2 years
2 years

Chalmers Presbyterian Manse, Timaru

7849

27 August 1921

Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

No	120
Date of Notice	27 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Smith Pillidge	Mary Elizabeth Turkington
	💍 1921/4531
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's Assistant	Domestic Duties
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Manse, Timaru
Folio	7849
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

121

2 September 1921

Douglas Bane
Muriel Evelyn Catter

Douglas Paine
Muriel Evelyn Catter
💍 1921/3559

Bachelor
Spinster

Mercer
Clerk

26
25

Dunedin
Timaru

7 years
7 years

St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

8202

2 September 1921

Rev. J. A. Julius, Anglican

No	121
Date of Notice	2 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Bane	Muriel Evelyn Catter
BDM Match (92%)	Douglas Paine	Muriel Evelyn Catter
	💍 1921/3559
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mercer	Clerk
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Timaru
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	8202
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Julius, Anglican

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).