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 2827

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 March 1923 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

9 March 1923

Thomas Moncrieff Stechman
Ivy Myrtle Cheyne

Thomas Moncrieff Stechman
Ivy Myrtle Cheyne
💍 1923/2658

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman
Domestic

24
27

Timaru
Timaru

Life
2 years

Residence of Mrs. R. Boarse, 164 Church Street West, Timaru

2355

9 March 1923

Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

No	31
Date of Notice	9 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Moncrieff Stechman	Ivy Myrtle Cheyne
	💍 1923/2658
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Domestic
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	Life	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. R. Boarse, 164 Church Street West, Timaru
Folio	2355
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

10 March 1923

George William Edward Tapp
Barbara Louisa Blanchard

George William Edward Tapp
Barbara Louisa Blanchard
💍 1923/2659

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Dressmaker

24
26

Timaru
Timaru

Life
8 years

Woodlands Street Methodist Church, Timaru

2356

10 March 1923

Rev. H. J. Odell, Methodist

No	32
Date of Notice	10 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Edward Tapp	Barbara Louisa Blanchard
	💍 1923/2659
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Dressmaker
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	Life	8 years
Marriage Place	Woodlands Street Methodist Church, Timaru
Folio	2356
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Odell, Methodist

13 March 1923

James Frederick Black
Margaret Elizabeth Thomas

James Frederick Black
Margaret Elizabeth Thomas
💍 1923/2660

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

26
25

Timaru
Timaru

2 days
4 months

St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

2357

13 March 1923

Ven. Arch. J. A. Julius, Anglican

No	33
Date of Notice	13 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Frederick Black	Margaret Elizabeth Thomas
	💍 1923/2660
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	2 days	4 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	2357
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. J. A. Julius, Anglican

14 March 1923

Walter Richard Arthur Brendon
Agnes Allison McPherson

Walter Richard Arthur Brendon
Agnes Allison McPherson
💍 1923/2661

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman
Nurse

22
27

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
10 days

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

2358

14 March 1923

Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

No	34
Date of Notice	14 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Richard Arthur Brendon	Agnes Allison McPherson
	💍 1923/2661
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman	Nurse
Age	22	27
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	2358
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

15 March 1923

Roland Parker Breeze
Margaret Mary O'Connell

Roland Parker Breeze
Margaret Mary O'Connell
💍 1923/2662

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

21
22

St. Andrews
Glen-iti

3 1/2 years
2 1/2 years

Priory of the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

2359

15 March 1923

Rev. J. M. Barra, Roman Catholic

No	35
Date of Notice	15 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roland Parker Breeze	Margaret Mary O'Connell
	💍 1923/2662
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	St. Andrews	Glen-iti
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Priory of the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	2359
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Barra, Roman Catholic

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).