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 2858

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

107

23 July 1921

William James Trembath
Henrietta Shears

William James Trembath
Henerietta Shears
💍 1921/4517

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

35
36

Albury
Timaru

27/7/1919 1920
12 days

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

7836

23 July 1921

Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

No	107
Date of Notice	23 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Trembath	Henrietta Shears
BDM Match (97%)	William James Trembath	Henerietta Shears
	💍 1921/4517
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	35	36
Dwelling Place	Albury	Timaru
Length of Residence	27/7/1919 1920	12 days
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	7836
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

108

28 July 1921

Jonathan Bracefield
Lydia Trezise Hogg

Jonathan Bracefield
Lydia Trezise Hogg
💍 1921/4518

Bachelor
Divorced

Labourer
Domestic Duties

38
36

Timaru
Timaru

22 years
decree absolute 31/8/1920

Methodist Parsonage, Butler Street, Timaru

7837

28 July 1921

Rev. W. A. Hay, Methodist

No	108
Date of Notice	28 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jonathan Bracefield	Lydia Trezise Hogg
	💍 1921/4518
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	38	36
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	22 years	decree absolute 31/8/1920
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, Butler Street, Timaru
Folio	7837
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Hay, Methodist

109

29 July 1921

William Richards
Charlotte Cruickshank

William Richards
Charlotte Cruickshank
💍 1921/4519

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheese Maker
Domestic Duties

35
32

Timaru
Timaru

3 months
3 months

Residence of Bride's Mother, 11 Te Weka Street, Timaru

7838

29 July 1921

Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

No	109
Date of Notice	29 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Richards	Charlotte Cruickshank
	💍 1921/4519
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheese Maker	Domestic Duties
Age	35	32
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's Mother, 11 Te Weka Street, Timaru
Folio	7838
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

110

29 July 1921

Charles Watson Smith
Margaret Ann Tait

Charles Watson Smith
Margaret Ann Tait
💍 1921/4520

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

27
22

Southburn
Southburn

2 years
2 years

Trinity Presbyterian Church, Timaru

7839

29 July 1921

Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

No	110
Date of Notice	29 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Watson Smith	Margaret Ann Tait
	💍 1921/4520
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Southburn	Southburn
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	7839
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

111

3 August 1921

Ernest Herbert Hastings Doyle
Helen Shepherd Copland

Ernest Herbert Hastings Doyle
Helen Shepherd Copland
💍 1921/4521

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

42
31

Fairlie
Timaru

Fairlie
3 days

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

7840

3 August 1921

Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

No	111
Date of Notice	3 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Herbert Hastings Doyle	Helen Shepherd Copland
	💍 1921/4521
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	42	31
Dwelling Place	Fairlie	Timaru
Length of Residence	Fairlie	3 days
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	7840
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Hughes, 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).