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 2844

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Timaru Registrar A. J. Davey

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

21 March 1921

Roland Leonard Pierce
Sarah McKenzie

Roland Leonard Pierce
Sarah McKenzie
💍 1921/9960

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

21
20

Albury
Timaru

Residence
Life

Mores, McConkey, Maltby Co, Timaru

2679

Sarah McKenzie, Mother (widow)

21 March 1921

Rev. A. Hay, Methodist

No	46
Date of Notice	21 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roland Leonard Pierce	Sarah McKenzie
	💍 1921/9960
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Albury	Timaru
Length of Residence	Residence	Life
Marriage Place	Mores, McConkey, Maltby Co, Timaru
Folio	2679
Consent	Sarah McKenzie, Mother (widow)
Date of Certificate	21 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hay, Methodist

22 March 1921

William James Langley
Isabella Grace Taylor

William James Langley
Isabella Grace Taylor
💍 1921/9961

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

35
23

Timaru
Timaru

Trinity Presbyterian Manse
5 years

Trinity Presbyterian Manse, Timaru

2680

22 March 1921

Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

No	47
Date of Notice	22 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Langley	Isabella Grace Taylor
	💍 1921/9961
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	Trinity Presbyterian Manse	5 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Presbyterian Manse, Timaru
Folio	2680
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

22 March 1921

George Sealy Hutton
Winifred Irene Ferguson Glanville

George Sealey Hutton
Winifred Irene Ferguson Glanville
💍 1921/9962

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Domestic Duties

33
25

Otipua
Pareora West

Life
Life

St. Mark's Anglican Church, Otipua

2681

22 March 1921

Rev. R. N. Wright, Anglican

No	48
Date of Notice	22 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Sealy Hutton	Winifred Irene Ferguson Glanville
BDM Match (98%)	George Sealey Hutton	Winifred Irene Ferguson Glanville
	💍 1921/9962
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic Duties
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Otipua	Pareora West
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Anglican Church, Otipua
Folio	2681
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. N. Wright, Anglican

23 March 1921

Cyril Charles Cross
Ivy Eleanor Bradshaw Downward

Cyril Charles Cross
Ivy Eleanor Bradshaw Downward
💍 1921/9970

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Dressmaker

23
25

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
3 days

Methodist Church, Bank Street, Timaru

2682

23 March 1921

Rev. W. A. Hay, Methodist

No	49
Date of Notice	23 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Charles Cross	Ivy Eleanor Bradshaw Downward
	💍 1921/9970
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Dressmaker
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Bank Street, Timaru
Folio	2682
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Hay, Methodist

23 March 1921

Harry Warwick Smith
Muriel May Davey

Harry Warwick Smith
Muriel May Davey
💍 1921/9980

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk in Holy Orders
Shop Assistant

38
22

Timaru
Timaru

13 months
13 months

St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

2683

23 March 1921

Right Reverend Bishop C. Julius, Anglican

No	50
Date of Notice	23 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Warwick Smith	Muriel May Davey
	💍 1921/9980
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk in Holy Orders	Shop Assistant
Age	38	22
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	13 months	13 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	2683
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Right Reverend Bishop C. 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).