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 2741

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 September 1922 Registrar F. 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

31 July 1922

William Reid Keown
Margaret Cook Clark

William Reid Keown
Margaret Cook Clark
💍 1922/8144

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

23
21

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
3 days

Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

6826

31 July 1922

Rev. Daniel H. Hurley (Roman Catholic)

No	84
Date of Notice	31 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Reid Keown	Margaret Cook Clark
	💍 1922/8144
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	6826
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. Daniel H. Hurley (Roman Catholic)

2 August 1922

Edwin Frank Bigney
Isabel Stewart

Edwin Frank Bisney
Isabel Stewart
💍 1922/8155

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Domestic

45
29

Timaru
Timaru

4 days
4 days

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

6827

2 August 1922

Rev. P. G. Hughes (Presbyterian)

No	85
Date of Notice	2 August 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Frank Bigney	Isabel Stewart
BDM Match (97%)	Edwin Frank Bisney	Isabel Stewart
	💍 1922/8155
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Domestic
Age	45	29
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	6827
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Hughes (Presbyterian)

2 August 1922

Cyril Harding Taylor
Elizabeth Cora Jane Waters

Cyril Harding Taylor
Elizabeth Cora Jane Waters
💍 1922/8162

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman N.Z. Railways
Dressmaker

22
23

Timaru
Timaru

1 1/2 years
3 years

Residence of Mr. A. Waters, Otipua Road, Timaru

6828

2 August 1922

Rev. H. W. Smith (Anglican)

No	86
Date of Notice	2 August 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Harding Taylor	Elizabeth Cora Jane Waters
	💍 1922/8162
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman N.Z. Railways	Dressmaker
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. A. Waters, Otipua Road, Timaru
Folio	6828
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Smith (Anglican)

7 August 1922

John Simpson
Olivia Campbell

John Simpson
Olivia Campbell
💍 1922/8163

John Coleman
Olive Campbell
💍 1922/6716

Bachelor
Spinster

Runholder
Domestic

26
29

Timaru
Timaru

8 days
10 years

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

6829

7 August 1922

Rev. P. G. Hughes (Presbyterian)

No	87
Date of Notice	7 August 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Simpson	Olivia Campbell
	💍 1922/8163
BDM Match (68%)	John Coleman	Olive Campbell
	💍 1922/6716
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Runholder	Domestic
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	8 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	6829
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Hughes (Presbyterian)

8 August 1922

Ernest Holman Philp
Evelyn Lewis

Ernest Holman Philp
Evelyn Lewis
💍 1922/8164

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

30
35

Timaru
Temuka

1 month
12 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Timaru

6830

8 August 1922

Francis E. Duncan, Registrar

No	88
Date of Notice	8 August 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Holman Philp	Evelyn Lewis
	💍 1922/8164
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	30	35
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Temuka
Length of Residence	1 month	12 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Timaru
Folio	6830
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1922
Officiating Minister	Francis E. Duncan, Registrar

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).