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 2841

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 September 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

20 August 1923

Charles Edward Bentley
Ivy Violet Young

Charles Edward Bentley
Ivy Violet Young
💍 1923/4836

Bachelor
Spinster

Bus proprietor
Clerk

37
30

Timaru
Timaru

4 days
4 days

St. John's Anglican Church, Timaru

7237

20 August 1923

Rev. H. W. Smith, Anglican

No	94
Date of Notice	20 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Bentley	Ivy Violet Young
	💍 1923/4836
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bus proprietor	Clerk
Age	37	30
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	7237
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Smith, Anglican

21 August 1923

John Stanley Clarkson
Elsie Minnie Kearsey

John Stanley Clarkson
Elsie Minnie Kearsey
💍 1923/4837

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic Duties

29
26

Timaru
Timaru

Life
9 months

St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

7238

21 August 1923

Ven. Arch. J. St. Julius, Anglican

No	95
Date of Notice	21 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stanley Clarkson	Elsie Minnie Kearsey
	💍 1923/4837
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic Duties
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	Life	9 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	7238
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. J. St. Julius, Anglican

22 August 1923

Edward Brown
Sophia Margaret Ann Forrest

Edward Brown
Sophia Margaret Ann Forrest
💍 1923/4838

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

35
23

St. Andrews
St. Andrews

3 years
Life

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

7239

22 August 1923

Rev. P. S. Hughes, Presbyterian

No	96
Date of Notice	22 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Brown	Sophia Margaret Ann Forrest
	💍 1923/4838
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	St. Andrews	St. Andrews
Length of Residence	3 years	Life
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	7239
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. S. Hughes, Presbyterian

24 August 1923

Michael Gilsenan
Emily McCarthy

Michael Gilsenan
Emily Macarthy
💍 1923/4839

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
29

Otipua
Bluecliffs, St. Andrews

1 year
Life

Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

7240

24 August 1923

Rev. J. M. Barra, Roman Catholic

No	97
Date of Notice	24 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Gilsenan	Emily McCarthy
BDM Match (93%)	Michael Gilsenan	Emily Macarthy
	💍 1923/4839
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Otipua	Bluecliffs, St. Andrews
Length of Residence	1 year	Life
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	7240
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Barra, Roman Catholic

27 August 1923

Alexander John Marshall
Clara Isabel Wares

Alexander John Marshall
Clara Isabel Wares
💍 1923/4840

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

33
33

Makikihi
Timaru

4 years
19 years

Trinity Presbyterian Church, Timaru

7241

27 August 1923

Rev. J. Stinson, Presbyterian

No	98
Date of Notice	27 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander John Marshall	Clara Isabel Wares
	💍 1923/4840
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Makikihi	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	7241
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Stinson, 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).