Intentions to Marry, 1923 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840519, 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.

1923e contains pages 3085-3502, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 3107

District of East Taieri Quarter ending 31 December 1923 Registrar M. J. Thompson

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

5 October 1923

Thomas Hartley
Margaret Ann Webb

Thomas Hartley
Margaret Ann Webb
💍 1923/7592

Bachelor
Spinster

Surfaceman New Zealand Railways
Domestic Duties

36
22

Taieri
Taieri

4 years
Lifetime

Residence of George Webb, Taieri

9772

5 October 1923

Rev. F. N. Beattie, Presbyterian

No	13
Date of Notice	5 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hartley	Margaret Ann Webb
	💍 1923/7592
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman New Zealand Railways	Domestic Duties
Age	36	22
Dwelling Place	Taieri	Taieri
Length of Residence	4 years	Lifetime
Marriage Place	Residence of George Webb, Taieri
Folio	9772
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. N. Beattie, Presbyterian

15 October 1923

Richard John Snow
Margaret Hall Hanlin

Richard John Snow
Margaret Hall Hanlin
💍 1923/7593

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk
Woollen Mill Employee

26
25

Mosgiel
Mosgiel

3 years
10 years

Presbyterian Church, Mosgiel

9773

15 October 1923

Rev. David Calder BA, Presbyterian

No	14
Date of Notice	15 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard John Snow	Margaret Hall Hanlin
	💍 1923/7593
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk	Woollen Mill Employee
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel	Mosgiel
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Mosgiel
Folio	9773
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Calder BA, Presbyterian

5 November 1923

Henry Onslow Bowden
Isabella Bryce

Henry Onslow Bowden
Isabella Bryce
💍 1923/7594

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Domestic Duties

26
30

Mosgiel
Mosgiel

5 days
Lifetime

Baptist Church, Mosgiel

9774

5 November 1923

Rev. Robert Robertson, Baptist

No	15
Date of Notice	5 November 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Onslow Bowden	Isabella Bryce
	💍 1923/7594
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Domestic Duties
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel	Mosgiel
Length of Residence	5 days	Lifetime
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Mosgiel
Folio	9774
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Robertson, Baptist

27 November 1923

Murray Wilson
Ruby Eyton Samuelson Stevens

Murray Wilson
Ruby Eyton Samuelson Stevens
💍 1923/7595

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

28
26

Mosgiel
Mosgiel

8 months
7 days

St. Lukes Church, Mosgiel

9775

27 November 1923

Rev. C. J. Bush-King, English

No	16
Date of Notice	27 November 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Murray Wilson	Ruby Eyton Samuelson Stevens
	💍 1923/7595
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel	Mosgiel
Length of Residence	8 months	7 days
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Church, Mosgiel
Folio	9775
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 November 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. J. Bush-King, English

11 December 1923

John Alexander Davidson
Helen McDowall

John Alexander Davidson
Helen McDowall
💍 1923/7506

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner
Domestic Duties

49
39

Dunedin
Mosgiel

12 years
2 months

Presbyterian Church, Mosgiel

9776

11 December 1923

Rev. David Calder BA, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	11 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander Davidson	Helen McDowall
	💍 1923/7506
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Domestic Duties
Age	49	39
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Mosgiel
Length of Residence	12 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Mosgiel
Folio	9776
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Calder BA, 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).