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 3032

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar C. H. [illegible]

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

417

30 August 1923

Alexander Miller McGregor
Elizabeth May Robertson

Alexander Miller McGregor
Elizabeth May Robertson
💍 1923/4005

Divorced Decree Absolute 27:8:1923
Spinster

Labourer

46
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
4 days

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

6240

30 September 1923

Deputy Registrar

No	417
Date of Notice	30 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Miller McGregor	Elizabeth May Robertson
	💍 1923/4005
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 27:8:1923	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	46	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	6240
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 September 1923
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

418

30 August 1923

Herbert Myer Caselberg
Janet Murdoch Hunt

Herbert Myer Caselberg
Janet Murdoch Hunt
💍 1923/3995

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 day
22 years

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

6241

30 August 1923

Registrar

No	418
Date of Notice	30 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Myer Caselberg	Janet Murdoch Hunt
	💍 1923/3995
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 day	22 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	6241
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Registrar

419

31 August 1923

George James Peters
Marion Horne Smellie

George James Peters
Marion Horne Smellie
💍 1923/3996

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheet Metal Worker

29
33

Green Island
Green Island

3 years
33 years

Knox Church, Dunedin

6242

31 August 1923

J. Kilpatrick, Presbyterian

No	419
Date of Notice	31 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George James Peters	Marion Horne Smellie
	💍 1923/3996
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheet Metal Worker
Age	29	33
Dwelling Place	Green Island	Green Island
Length of Residence	3 years	33 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Dunedin
Folio	6242
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1923
Officiating Minister	J. Kilpatrick, Presbyterian

420

1 September 1923

Kenneth McLennan
Annie Grant Smith

Kenneth McLennan
Annie Grant Smith
💍 1923/3997

Widower 10:10:1922
Spinster

Merchant

43
34

Dunedin
Dunedin

43 years
34 years

Residence of Mrs. A. Smith, 58 Grosvenor Street, Kensington

6243

1 September 1923

F. M. Beattie, Presbyterian

No	420
Date of Notice	1 September 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth McLennan	Annie Grant Smith
	💍 1923/3997
Condition	Widower 10:10:1922	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	43	34
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	43 years	34 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. A. Smith, 58 Grosvenor Street, Kensington
Folio	6243
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1923
Officiating Minister	F. M. Beattie, Presbyterian

421

3 September 1923

George Swanson Roberts
Hilda May Gilbert

George Swanson Roberts
Hilda May Gilbert
💍 1923/3998

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

33
28

Dunedin
Dunedin

20 years
18 years

Congregational Church, King Street, Dunedin

6244

3 September 1923

A. H. Wallace, Congregational

No	421
Date of Notice	3 September 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Swanson Roberts	Hilda May Gilbert
	💍 1923/3998
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, King Street, Dunedin
Folio	6244
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1923
Officiating Minister	A. H. Wallace, Congregational

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).