Intentions to Marry, 1922 Cust to Dunedin

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840510, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1922 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.

1922g contains pages 2581-2980, covering districts from Cust to Dunedin

Page 2591

District of Ellesmere Quarter ending 30 June 1922 Registrar P. J. Seeton

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

1/22

7 April 1922

George Modrich
Mary Laura Shappeel

George Modrich
Mary Laura Trapnell
💍 1922/4897

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Masseur
Domestic Duties

27
24

Christchurch
Brookside

3 days
24 years

Residence of Mr Shappeel, Brookside

4535

7 April 1922

Rev. J. E. Holloway

No	1/22
Date of Notice	7 April 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Modrich	Mary Laura Shappeel
BDM Match (89%)	George Modrich	Mary Laura Trapnell
	💍 1922/4897
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Masseur	Domestic Duties
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Brookside
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Shappeel, Brookside
Folio	4535
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Holloway

4/22

11 April 1922

William John Canterbury Sheat
Janet Swanson Reid

William John Canterbury Sheat
Janet Swanson Reid
💍 1922/4898

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
25

Dunsandel
Dunsandel

Life
10 years

Presbyterian Church, Dunsandel

4536

11 April 1922

Rev. G. Lindsay

No	4/22
Date of Notice	11 April 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Canterbury Sheat	Janet Swanson Reid
	💍 1922/4898
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Dunsandel	Dunsandel
Length of Residence	Life	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dunsandel
Folio	4536
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Lindsay

5/22

12 April 1922

William George Shappeel
Jane Snowden McKenzie

William George Chappell
Jane Snowden McKenzie
💍 1922/4899

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

35
29

Killinchy
Dunsandel

Life
Life

Presbyterian Church, Dunsandel

4537

12 April 1922

Rev. J. S. Reid

No	5/22
Date of Notice	12 April 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Shappeel	Jane Snowden McKenzie
BDM Match (96%)	William George Chappell	Jane Snowden McKenzie
	💍 1922/4899
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	35	29
Dwelling Place	Killinchy	Dunsandel
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dunsandel
Folio	4537
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Reid

6/22

10 June 1922

John Boa
Matilda Gibson

John Boa
Matilda Gibson
💍 1922/4900

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

29
41

Irwell
Irwell

8 years
14 years

Residence of Mr S. Gibson, Irwell

4538

10 June 1922

Rev. G. W. Wacker

No	6/22
Date of Notice	10 June 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Boa	Matilda Gibson
	💍 1922/4900
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	29	41
Dwelling Place	Irwell	Irwell
Length of Residence	8 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr S. Gibson, Irwell
Folio	4538
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Wacker

7/22

19 June 1922

Gordon McDonald
Ellen Lucy Florence Gardner

Gordon McDonald
Ellen Lucy Florence Gardiner
💍 1922/4901

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

21
23

Selwyn
Dunsandel

21 years
5 years

Anglican Church, Dunsandel

4539

19 June 1922

Rev. A. G. Hawkins

No	7/22
Date of Notice	19 June 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon McDonald	Ellen Lucy Florence Gardner
BDM Match (98%)	Gordon McDonald	Ellen Lucy Florence Gardiner
	💍 1922/4901
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Selwyn	Dunsandel
Length of Residence	21 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Dunsandel
Folio	4539
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 June 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Hawkins

8/22

24 June 1922

Herbert Royal Barnett
Lillian Grace Millar

Herbert Royal Barnett
Lilian Grace Millar
💍 1922/4902

Bachelor
Spinster

Teamster
Domestic Duties

21
21

Irwell
Irwell

14 years
21 years

Methodist Church, Irwell

4540

24 June 1922

Rev. A. O. Harris

No	8/22
Date of Notice	24 June 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Royal Barnett	Lillian Grace Millar
BDM Match (98%)	Herbert Royal Barnett	Lilian Grace Millar
	💍 1922/4902
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teamster	Domestic Duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Irwell	Irwell
Length of Residence	14 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Irwell
Folio	4540
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. O. Harris

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).