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 2842

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 September 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

27 August 1923

Arthur Edwin Smith
Annie Roberta Haylett

Arthur Edwin Smith
Annie Roberta Hazlett
💍 1923/4841

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

34
27

Timaru
Timaru

1 day
30 days

Residence of Mr. R. Haylett, 25 Queen Street, Timaru

7242

27 August 1923

Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

No	99
Date of Notice	27 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edwin Smith	Annie Roberta Haylett
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Edwin Smith	Annie Roberta Hazlett
	💍 1923/4841
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	1 day	30 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. R. Haylett, 25 Queen Street, Timaru
Folio	7242
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

100

1 September 1923

Conrad Arnold Voss
Mavis Marion Bowie

Conrad Arnold Voss
Mavis Marion Cowie
💍 1923/4842

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist
Domestic Duties

27
26

Timaru
Timaru

-
12 years

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

7243

1 September 1923

Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

No	100
Date of Notice	1 September 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Conrad Arnold Voss	Mavis Marion Bowie
BDM Match (97%)	Conrad Arnold Voss	Mavis Marion Cowie
	💍 1923/4842
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Domestic Duties
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	-	12 years
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	7243
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

101

3 September 1923

Henry McKay
Bessie Price

Henry McKay
Bessie Price
💍 1923/4844

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable
Lady's Maid

36
36

Timaru
Timaru

2 days
4 days

Residence of Mr. J. Leeming, 32 Rhodes Street, Timaru

7244

3 September 1923

Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

No	101
Date of Notice	3 September 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry McKay	Bessie Price
	💍 1923/4844
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable	Lady's Maid
Age	36	36
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	2 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Leeming, 32 Rhodes Street, Timaru
Folio	7244
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

102

3 September 1923

Maddren Williams
Olive May Drew

Maddren Williams
Olive May Drew
💍 1923/4845

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

30
22

Pareora
Pareora

6 years
7 years

Kensington Methodist Church, Timaru

7245

3 September 1923

Rev. A. Blakemore, Methodist

No	102
Date of Notice	3 September 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maddren Williams	Olive May Drew
	💍 1923/4845
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Pareora	Pareora
Length of Residence	6 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Kensington Methodist Church, Timaru
Folio	7245
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Blakemore, Methodist

103

12 September 1923

Robert Neilson
Mary Ross

Robert Neilson
Mary Ross
💍 1923/4846

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

31
33

Timaru
Timaru

1 year
3 months

Methodist Church, Bank Street, Timaru

7246

12 September 1923

Rev. H. J. Odell, Methodist

No	103
Date of Notice	12 September 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Neilson	Mary Ross
	💍 1923/4846
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	1 year	3 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Bank Street, Timaru
Folio	7246
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 September 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Odell, Methodist

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).