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 2735

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 June 1922 Registrar J. Duncan

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

23 May 1922

William Thin
Mildred Beatrice Williams

William Thin
Mildred Beatrice Williams
💍 1922/2909

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic

36
27

Levels
Levels

2 years
2 years

Highfield Presbyterian Church Timaru

4622

23 May 1922

Rev. Adam Begg, Presbyterian

No	56
Date of Notice	23 May 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thin	Mildred Beatrice Williams
	💍 1922/2909
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic
Age	36	27
Dwelling Place	Levels	Levels
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Highfield Presbyterian Church Timaru
Folio	4622
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. Adam Begg, Presbyterian

23 May 1922

James Richard Beattie
Elizabeth Margaret Jane Johns

James Richard Beattie
Elizabeth Margaret Jane Johns
💍 1922/2910

Bachelor
Widow

Grocer
Domestic

36
34

Levels
Temuka

2 years
34 years

Highfield Presbyterian Church Timaru

4623

23 May 1922

Rev. Adam Begg, Presbyterian

No	57
Date of Notice	23 May 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Richard Beattie	Elizabeth Margaret Jane Johns
	💍 1922/2910
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Grocer	Domestic
Age	36	34
Dwelling Place	Levels	Temuka
Length of Residence	2 years	34 years
Marriage Place	Highfield Presbyterian Church Timaru
Folio	4623
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. Adam Begg, Presbyterian

23 May 1922

Thomas James Brosson
Emily Margaret Haydon

Thomas James Crosson
Emily Margaret Haydon
💍 1922/2911

Bachelor
Divorced (decree absolute 18-2-22)

Farmer
Domestic

45
38

Timaru
Battle Valley, Fairlie

3 days
1 year

Trinity Presbyterian Church Manse Timaru

4624

23 May 1922

Rev. Thomas Stinson, Presbyterian

No	58
Date of Notice	23 May 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas James Brosson	Emily Margaret Haydon
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas James Crosson	Emily Margaret Haydon
	💍 1922/2911
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (decree absolute 18-2-22)
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	45	38
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Battle Valley, Fairlie
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Trinity Presbyterian Church Manse Timaru
Folio	4624
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Stinson, Presbyterian

30 May 1922

Vivian Dalton Heal
Charlotte Oldfield

Vivian Dalton Heal
Charlotte Oldfield
💍 1922/5218

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic

25
24

Timaru
Seadown

14 years
20 years

St. Mary's Anglican Church Timaru

4965

30 May 1922

Rev. John Chudray Julius, Anglican

No	59
Date of Notice	30 May 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vivian Dalton Heal	Charlotte Oldfield
	💍 1922/5218
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Seadown
Length of Residence	14 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church Timaru
Folio	4965
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Chudray Julius, Anglican

31 May 1922

John Cuthbert Leat McBratney
Bessie Rosetta Maze Hughes

John Cuthbert Leat McBratney
Bessie Rosetta Maze Hughis
💍 1922/2912

Bachelor
Spinster

Firewood Merchant
Dressmaker

26
25

Winchester
Timaru

9 years
25 years

House of Mrs. Ellen Mary Hughes, 84 Rose Street, Timaru

4625

31 May 1922

Rev. John Anderson, Presbyterian

No	60
Date of Notice	31 May 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Cuthbert Leat McBratney	Bessie Rosetta Maze Hughes
BDM Match (98%)	John Cuthbert Leat McBratney	Bessie Rosetta Maze Hughis
	💍 1922/2912
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Firewood Merchant	Dressmaker
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Winchester	Timaru
Length of Residence	9 years	25 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. Ellen Mary Hughes, 84 Rose Street, Timaru
Folio	4625
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Anderson, 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).