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 2854

District of 30 June 1921 Quarter ending Timaru Registrar A. U. Bakey

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

6 June 1921

Thomas McCone
Daisy Amelia Hoskin

Thomas McCone
Daisy Amelia Hoskin
💍 1921/860

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
24

St. Andrews
St. Andrews

10 years
10 years

Anglican Church, St. Andrews

5414

6 June 1921

Rev. E. K. Mules, Anglican

No	90
Date of Notice	6 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas McCone	Daisy Amelia Hoskin
	💍 1921/860
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	St. Andrews	St. Andrews
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, St. Andrews
Folio	5414
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. K. Mules, Anglican

7 June 1921

Joseph Dodd
Beatrice Annie Thomas

Joseph Dodd
Beatrice Annie Thomas
💍 1921/861

Widower (2/9/1908)
Widow (19/11/1919)

Carter
Domestic Duties

49
38

Timaru
Timaru

20 years
20 years

Residence of Mrs. Thomas, Main South Road, Timaru

5415

7 June 1921

Rev. M. A. Hay, Methodist

No	91
Date of Notice	7 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Dodd	Beatrice Annie Thomas
	💍 1921/861
Condition	Widower (2/9/1908)	Widow (19/11/1919)
Profession	Carter	Domestic Duties
Age	49	38
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Thomas, Main South Road, Timaru
Folio	5415
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. A. Hay, Methodist

8 June 1921

Henry Theeman
Phoebe Ann Brether

Henry Theeman
Phoebe Ann Grether
💍 1921/862

Bachelor
Spinster

Mercantile Officer
Domestic Duties

27
29

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
3 days

St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

5416

8 June 1921

Rev. J. A. Julius, Anglican

No	92
Date of Notice	8 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Theeman	Phoebe Ann Brether
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Theeman	Phoebe Ann Grether
	💍 1921/862
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mercantile Officer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	5416
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Julius, Anglican

10 June 1921

David Brown Campbell
Mona Sevicke Jones

David Brown Campbell
Mona Sevicke Jones
💍 1921/863

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

34
23

Hook
Timaru

1 year
1 year

St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

5417

10 June 1921

Rev. J. A. Julius, Anglican

No	93
Date of Notice	10 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Brown Campbell	Mona Sevicke Jones
	💍 1921/863
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Hook	Timaru
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	5417
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Julius, Anglican

13 June 1921

Gerald William McWhirter
Rita May Burns

Gerald William McWhirter
Rita May Burns
💍 1921/864

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Duties

25
22

Timaru
Timaru

12 years
12 years

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

5418

13 June 1921

Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

No	94
Date of Notice	13 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gerald William McWhirter	Rita May Burns
	💍 1921/864
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	12 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	5418
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 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).