Intentions to Marry, 1923 Cust to Dunedin

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840518, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1923 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.

1923g contains pages 2671-3084, covering districts from Cust to Dunedin

Page 2813

District of Temuka Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar W. G. Gibbs

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

3 July 1923

Cecil Patrick Joseph Hoare
Constance Fisher

Cecil Patrick Joseph Hoare
Constance Fisher
💍 1923/5603

Bachelor
Spinster

Jockey
Household Duties

18
19

Temuka
Temuka

3 years
19 years

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Temuka

7210

Hugh Hoare, father; John Alexander Fisher, father

3 July 1923

P. Fay, Roman Catholic

No	17
Date of Notice	3 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Patrick Joseph Hoare	Constance Fisher
	💍 1923/5603
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jockey	Household Duties
Age	18	19
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	3 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Temuka
Folio	7210
Consent	Hugh Hoare, father; John Alexander Fisher, father
Date of Certificate	3 July 1923
Officiating Minister	P. Fay, Roman Catholic

4 August 1923

Francis Samuel Keenan
Mary Henry

Francis Samuel Keenan
Mary Henry
💍 1923/5604

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

27
22

Temuka
Temuka

8 years
10 years

Church of England, Temuka

7211

4 August 1923

J. R. Hervey, Church of England

No	18
Date of Notice	4 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Samuel Keenan	Mary Henry
	💍 1923/5604
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	8 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Temuka
Folio	7211
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1923
Officiating Minister	J. R. Hervey, Church of England

28 August 1923

Wini Tamihana
Rahera Pirihira Taipana

Wini Tamihana
Rahera Pirihira Taipana
💍 1923/5605

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

24
19

Temuka
Temuka

3 weeks
19 years

The Maori Church, Maori Pah, Temuka

7212

Hana Taipana, mother (widow)

28 August 1923

J. R. Hervey, Church of England

No	19
Date of Notice	28 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wini Tamihana	Rahera Pirihira Taipana
	💍 1923/5605
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	3 weeks	19 years
Marriage Place	The Maori Church, Maori Pah, Temuka
Folio	7212
Consent	Hana Taipana, mother (widow)
Date of Certificate	28 August 1923
Officiating Minister	J. R. Hervey, Church of England

30 August 1923

Frederick William Pearce
Margaret Jane Pedce

Frederick William Pearce
Margaret Jane Pearce
💍 1923/13

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Domestic Duties

27
29

Temuka
Temuka

23 years
10 years

Residence of Rev R. H. Blair, Bass Street, Temuka

7213

30 August 1923

R. H. Blair, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	30 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Pearce	Margaret Jane Pedce
BDM Match (95%)	Frederick William Pearce	Margaret Jane Pearce
	💍 1923/13
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	23 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev R. H. Blair, Bass Street, Temuka
Folio	7213
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1923
Officiating Minister	R. H. Blair, Presbyterian

11 September 1923

Harold George Beck
Isabelle Lucy Pearce

Harold George Beck
Isabelle Lucy Pearce
💍 1923/5607

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

35
25

Orton, Temuka
Milford, Temuka

3 years
3 years

St Peter's Church of England, Temuka

7214

11 September 1923

J. R. Hervey, Church of England

No	21
Date of Notice	11 September 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold George Beck	Isabelle Lucy Pearce
	💍 1923/5607
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	35	25
Dwelling Place	Orton, Temuka	Milford, Temuka
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church of England, Temuka
Folio	7214
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 September 1923
Officiating Minister	J. R. Hervey, Church of England

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).