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 2734

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 June 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

6 May 1922

Walter Whitehead
Ada Elizabeth Lancaster

Walter Whitehead
Ada Elizabeth Lancaster
💍 1922/2903

Widower (21-8-19)
Widow (3-9-18)

Carpenter
Domestic

46
39

Timaru
Timaru

13 years
2 weeks

House of Mr. William Moore, Woodlands Road, Timaru

4617

6 May 1922

Rev. Henry J. Odell, Methodist

No	51
Date of Notice	6 May 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Whitehead	Ada Elizabeth Lancaster
	💍 1922/2903
Condition	Widower (21-8-19)	Widow (3-9-18)
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	46	39
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	13 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	House of Mr. William Moore, Woodlands Road, Timaru
Folio	4617
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 May 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry J. Odell, Methodist

9 May 1922

Alexander Wilson
Irma Mary De Sales O'Sullivan

Alexander Wilson
Irma Mary De Sales O'Sullivan
💍 1922/2904

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman
Typist

48
27

Timaru
Timaru

11 years
9 years

Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

4618

9 May 1922

Rev. Daniel H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

No	52
Date of Notice	9 May 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Wilson	Irma Mary De Sales O'Sullivan
	💍 1922/2904
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman	Typist
Age	48	27
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	11 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	4618
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. Daniel H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

11 May 1922

Joseph Daniel O'Brien
Ellen Mary Dellow

Joseph Daniel O'Brien
Ellen Mary Dellow
💍 1922/2905

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

42
28

Timaru
Timaru

3 years
2 years

Registrar's Office, Timaru

4619

11 May 1922

Francis E. Duncan, Registrar

No	53
Date of Notice	11 May 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Daniel O'Brien	Ellen Mary Dellow
	💍 1922/2905
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	42	28
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Timaru
Folio	4619
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 May 1922
Officiating Minister	Francis E. Duncan, Registrar

12 May 1922

George John Thomas Taylor
Grace Dalziell Beck

George John Thomas Taylor
Grace Dalziell Beck
💍 1922/2907

Widower (1-9-19)
Spinster

Railway Employee
Domestic

47
41

Timaru
Timaru

3 years
4 years

House of Mrs. Janet Beck, 24 Otipua Road, Timaru

4620

12 May 1922

Rev. Adam Begg, Presbyterian

No	54
Date of Notice	12 May 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George John Thomas Taylor	Grace Dalziell Beck
	💍 1922/2907
Condition	Widower (1-9-19)	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic
Age	47	41
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. Janet Beck, 24 Otipua Road, Timaru
Folio	4620
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 May 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. Adam Begg, Presbyterian

13 May 1922

William Bruce Sinclair
Hazel Belle Knowles

William Bruce Sinclair
Hazel Belle Knowles
💍 1922/2908

Bachelor
Spinster

Poultry Instructor
Domestic

27
24

Timaru
Timaru

1 day
10 days

Presbyterian Manse, Highfield, Timaru

4621

13 May 1922

Rev. Adam Begg, Presbyterian

No	55
Date of Notice	13 May 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Bruce Sinclair	Hazel Belle Knowles
	💍 1922/2908
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Poultry Instructor	Domestic
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	1 day	10 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Highfield, Timaru
Folio	4621
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. Adam Begg, 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).