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 2848

District of 30 June 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

12 April 1921

Richard Lyall Craik Philip
Ethel Alice Davies

Richard Lyall Craik Philip
Ethel Alice Davies
💍 1921/7079

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant
Domestic Duties

24
23

Timaru
Timaru

10 months

Congregational Church, Timaru

5384

12 April 1921

Rev. T. W. Potts, Congregational

No	60
Date of Notice	12 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Lyall Craik Philip	Ethel Alice Davies
	💍 1921/7079
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	Domestic Duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence		10 months
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Timaru
Folio	5384
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. W. Potts, Congregational

13 April 1921

Henry Alexander Greer
Ellen Hedges

Henry Alexander Greer
Ellen Hedges
💍 1921/7056

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Stationmaster
Domestic Duties

26
26

Timaru
Timaru

1 year

St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

5385

13 April 1921

Rev. H. W. Smith, Anglican

No	61
Date of Notice	13 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Alexander Greer	Ellen Hedges
	💍 1921/7056
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Stationmaster	Domestic Duties
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	5385
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Smith, Anglican

13 April 1921

Joseph Ernest Bell
Minnieetta Phoebe Hannah Harris

Joseph Ernest Bell
Minnietta Phoebe Hannah Harris
💍 1921/7057

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

31
26

St. Andrews
Timaru

Life

Congregational Church, Timaru

5386

13 April 1921

Rev. T. W. Potts, Congregational

No	62
Date of Notice	13 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Ernest Bell	Minnieetta Phoebe Hannah Harris
BDM Match (98%)	Joseph Ernest Bell	Minnietta Phoebe Hannah Harris
	💍 1921/7057
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	St. Andrews	Timaru
Length of Residence	Life
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Timaru
Folio	5386
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. W. Potts, Congregational

15 April 1921

William Walter Smith
Jessie Strachan

William Walter Smith
Jessie Strachan
💍 1921/7058

Widower (2/9/1919)
Spinster

Leather Merchant
Clerk

43
41

Timaru
Timaru

14 years

Residence of Bride, Sarah Street, Timaru

5387

15 April 1921

Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

No	63
Date of Notice	15 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Walter Smith	Jessie Strachan
	💍 1921/7058
Condition	Widower (2/9/1919)	Spinster
Profession	Leather Merchant	Clerk
Age	43	41
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride, Sarah Street, Timaru
Folio	5387
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

15 April 1921

William George Fraser
Minnie Elizabeth Marshall

William George Fraser
Minnie Elizabeth Marshall
💍 1921/7059

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Dressmaker

26
23

Albury
Timaru

9 years

Trinity Presbyterian Manse, Timaru

5388

15 April 1921

Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

No	64
Date of Notice	15 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Fraser	Minnie Elizabeth Marshall
	💍 1921/7059
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Dressmaker
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Albury	Timaru
Length of Residence	9 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Presbyterian Manse, Timaru
Folio	5388
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Stinson, 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).