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 2838

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar F. E. 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

23 July 1923

Alexander Philip Ennis
Violet May Edith Musson

Alexander Philip Ennis
Violet May Edith Musson
💍 1923/5609

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman
Domestic

18
24

Timaru
Timaru

Life
1 month

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Timaru

7217

Abraham George Ennis (Father)

23 July 1923

F. E. Duncan, Registrar

No	79
Date of Notice	23 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Philip Ennis	Violet May Edith Musson
	💍 1923/5609
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Domestic
Age	18	24
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	Life	1 month
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Timaru
Folio	7217
Consent	Abraham George Ennis (Father)
Date of Certificate	23 July 1923
Officiating Minister	F. E. Duncan, Registrar

25 July 1923

Joseph Hart
Bridget Josephine Long

Joseph Hart
Bridget Josephine Long
💍 1923/5617

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

36
34

St. Andrews
St. Andrews

23 years
30 years

Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

7223

25 July 1923

Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

No	80
Date of Notice	25 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Hart	Bridget Josephine Long
	💍 1923/5617
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	36	34
Dwelling Place	St. Andrews	St. Andrews
Length of Residence	23 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	7223
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

25 July 1923

John Phillips
Elizabeth Agnes Oliver

John Phillips
Isabella Agnes Oliver
💍 1923/5618

Widower (26 May 1915)
Widow (22 September 1916)

Labourer
Domestic

45
45

Timaru
Timaru

4 years
4 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Timaru

7224

25 July 1923

F. E. Duncan, Registrar

No	81
Date of Notice	25 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Phillips	Elizabeth Agnes Oliver
BDM Match (84%)	John Phillips	Isabella Agnes Oliver
	💍 1923/5618
Condition	Widower (26 May 1915)	Widow (22 September 1916)
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	45	45
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Timaru
Folio	7224
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1923
Officiating Minister	F. E. Duncan, Registrar

31 July 1923

Rayner Howard
Jean McDonald

Rayner Howard
Jean McDonald
💍 1923/4832

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

18
22

Timaru
Timaru

Life
2 years

Trinity Presbyterian Church, Timaru

7225

Rayner Howard (Father)

31 July 1923

Rev. J. Stinson, Presbyterian

No	82
Date of Notice	31 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rayner Howard	Jean McDonald
	💍 1923/4832
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	18	22
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	Life	2 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	7225
Consent	Rayner Howard (Father)
Date of Certificate	31 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Stinson, Presbyterian

3 August 1923

Henry Mitchell
Martha Miller Sanders

Henry Mitchell
Martha Miller Sanders
💍 1923/4843

Bachelor
Widow (14 November 1919)

Clerk
Domestic

65
39

Timaru
Timaru

29 years
10 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Timaru

7226

3 August 1923

F. E. Duncan, Registrar

No	83
Date of Notice	3 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Mitchell	Martha Miller Sanders
	💍 1923/4843
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (14 November 1919)
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	65	39
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	29 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Timaru
Folio	7226
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1923
Officiating Minister	F. E. Duncan, Registrar

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).