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 2838

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Timaru Registrar Leslie G. Bruce

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

18 January 1921

David Shani
Alice Mary McConachy

David Shine
Alice Mary McConachy
💍 1921/9934

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

25
29

Timaru
Timaru

22 years
29 years

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

2651

18 January 1921

Rev. J. Barra, Roman Catholic

No	16
Date of Notice	18 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Shani	Alice Mary McConachy
BDM Match (91%)	David Shine	Alice Mary McConachy
	💍 1921/9934
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	29
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	22 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	2651
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Barra, Roman Catholic

21 January 1921

Albert Field
Emma Gimmons

Albert Fridd
Emma Simmons
💍 1921/9935

Bachelor
Spinster

Patient, Military Hospital
Domestic Duties

25
26

Timaru
Kingsdown

2 years
26 years

Bank St Methodist Church, Timaru

2652

21 January 1921

Rev. J. Dent, Methodist

No	17
Date of Notice	21 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Field	Emma Gimmons
BDM Match (83%)	Albert Fridd	Emma Simmons
	💍 1921/9935
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Patient, Military Hospital	Domestic Duties
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Kingsdown
Length of Residence	2 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Bank St Methodist Church, Timaru
Folio	2652
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dent, Methodist

22 January 1921

Christopher Michael O'Connor
Isabella Kennedy Ross

Christopher Michael O'Connor
Isabella Kennedy Ross
💍 1921/9936

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
22

Seadown
Washdyke

Life
15 years

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

2653

22 January 1921

Rev. N. B. Moloney, Roman Catholic

No	18
Date of Notice	22 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christopher Michael O'Connor	Isabella Kennedy Ross
	💍 1921/9936
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Seadown	Washdyke
Length of Residence	Life	15 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	2653
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. N. B. Moloney, Roman Catholic

31 January 1921

Clifford John Gilbert Dewar
Gladys May Williams

Clifford John Gilbert Dewar
Gladys May Williams
💍 1921/9937

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer
Domestic Duties

29
20

Timaru
Timaru

7 years
Life

Registrar's Office, Timaru

2654

Jessie Williams (mother)

31 January 1921

A. N. Oakey, Registrar

No	19
Date of Notice	31 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clifford John Gilbert Dewar	Gladys May Williams
	💍 1921/9937
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	7 years	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Timaru
Folio	2654
Consent	Jessie Williams (mother)
Date of Certificate	31 January 1921
Officiating Minister	A. N. Oakey, Registrar

2 February 1921

William George Brunton
Savinia Nicol Stocks

William George Brunton
Lavinia Nicol Stocks
💍 1921/277

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employer
Domestic Duties

31
30

Otaio
Otaio

3 days
3 days

Residence of R. R. Brunton, Otaio

2655

2 February 1921

Rev. J. Usher, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	2 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Brunton	Savinia Nicol Stocks
BDM Match (98%)	William George Brunton	Lavinia Nicol Stocks
	💍 1921/277
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Otaio	Otaio
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of R. R. Brunton, Otaio
Folio	2655
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Usher, 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).