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 2825

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar 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

12 February 1923

Ernest Ramsay
Violet Edna Harrington

Ernest Ramsay
Violet Edna Harrington
💍 1923/2626

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

28
23

Timaru
Timaru

15 years
3 years

Bank Street Methodist Church, Timaru

2345

12 February 1923

Rev. H. J. Odell, Methodist

No	21
Date of Notice	12 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Ramsay	Violet Edna Harrington
	💍 1923/2626
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	15 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Bank Street Methodist Church, Timaru
Folio	2345
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Odell, Methodist

13 February 1923

John Webb Ablett
Eunice Millicent Ward

John Webb Ablett
Eunice Millicent Ward
💍 1923/2627

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

33
29

Christchurch
Timaru

28 years
Life

Residence of Mr. J. Boyes, Latter Street, Timaru

2346

13 February 1923

Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

No	22
Date of Notice	13 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Webb Ablett	Eunice Millicent Ward
	💍 1923/2627
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Timaru
Length of Residence	28 years	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Boyes, Latter Street, Timaru
Folio	2346
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

22 February 1923

Charles Allan Baker
Ivy Maude Reed

Charles Allan Baker
Ivy Maude Reed
💍 1923/2628

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Salesman
Milliner

28
24

Timaru
Christchurch

4 years
1 year

St. Luke's Anglican Church, Christchurch

2347

22 February 1923

Ven. Arch. F. N. Taylor, Anglican

No	23
Date of Notice	22 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Allan Baker	Ivy Maude Reed
	💍 1923/2628
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Salesman	Milliner
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Anglican Church, Christchurch
Folio	2347
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. F. N. Taylor, Anglican

23 February 1923

William Finnerty
Mabel Edwards

William Finnerty
Mabel Edwards
💍 1923/2629

William Roberts
Mary Edwards
💍 1923/6895

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Dressmaker

30
31

Timaru
Timaru

2 days
5 days

Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

2348

23 February 1923

Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

No	24
Date of Notice	23 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Finnerty	Mabel Edwards
	💍 1923/2629
BDM Match (73%)	William Roberts	Mary Edwards
	💍 1923/6895
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Dressmaker
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	2 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	2348
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

26 February 1923

Alexander Haywood
Evelyn Maxwell

Alexander Haywood
Evelyn Maxwell
💍 1923/2630

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

30
25

Timaru
Timaru

9 days
2 days

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

2349

26 February 1923

Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

No	25
Date of Notice	26 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Haywood	Evelyn Maxwell
	💍 1923/2630
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	9 days	2 days
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	2349
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Hughes, 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).