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 3021

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar C. R. Edmond

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

362

24 July 1923

Richard Sylvester Taylor
Alma Victoria Jolly

Richard Sylvester Taylor
Alma Victoria Jolly
💍 1923/3704

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

28
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 day
3 days

St. Josephs Cathedral, Dunedin

6186

24 July 1923

J. Foley, Roman Catholic

No	362
Date of Notice	24 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Sylvester Taylor	Alma Victoria Jolly
	💍 1923/3704
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 day	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Josephs Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	6186
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1923
Officiating Minister	J. Foley, Roman Catholic

363

25 July 1923

Cecil Henry James Woodhouse
Emma Rebecca George

Cecil Henry James Woodhouse
Emma Rebecca George
💍 1923/3705

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

21
18

Roxburgh
Dunedin

21 years
1 week

St. Patricks Basilica, South Dunedin

6187

J. George (Father)

25 July 1923

J. P. Delany, Roman Catholic

No	363
Date of Notice	25 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Henry James Woodhouse	Emma Rebecca George
	💍 1923/3705
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Roxburgh	Dunedin
Length of Residence	21 years	1 week
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Basilica, South Dunedin
Folio	6187
Consent	J. George (Father)
Date of Certificate	25 July 1923
Officiating Minister	J. P. Delany, Roman Catholic

364

25 July 1923

John Patrick McKeay
Margaret Berney

John Patrick McKeay
Margaret Berney
💍 1923/3706

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
19

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
3 years

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

6188

G. G. M. Berney (Father)

25 July 1923

Registrar

No	364
Date of Notice	25 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Patrick McKeay	Margaret Berney
	💍 1923/3706
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	6188
Consent	G. G. M. Berney (Father)
Date of Certificate	25 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Registrar

365

25 July 1923

Charles Stephen Russell
Gladys Maude Sanders

Charles Stephen Russell
Gladys Maude Sanders
💍 1923/3707

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

29
26

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
3 days

Residence of Rev. R. Raine, 56 Lawrence Street, Mornington, Dunedin

6189

25 July 1923

R. Raine, Methodist

No	365
Date of Notice	25 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Stephen Russell	Gladys Maude Sanders
	💍 1923/3707
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. R. Raine, 56 Lawrence Street, Mornington, Dunedin
Folio	6189
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1923
Officiating Minister	R. Raine, Methodist

366

27 July 1923

Roy Alexander Olsen (known as Roy Alexander Dawson)
Lillian Mary Baxter

Roy Alexandra Olsen
Lillian Mary Baxter
💍 1923/3708

Bachelor
Spinster

Journeyman Painter

26
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
5 years

Presbyterian Church, South Dunedin

6190

27 July 1923

R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

No	366
Date of Notice	27 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Alexander Olsen (known as Roy Alexander Dawson)	Lillian Mary Baxter
BDM Match (67%)	Roy Alexandra Olsen	Lillian Mary Baxter
	💍 1923/3708
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journeyman Painter
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, South Dunedin
Folio	6190
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1923
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid, 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).