Intentions to Marry, 1924 Cust to Dunedin

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840526, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1924 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.

1924g contains pages 2647-3074, covering districts from Cust to Dunedin

Page 2797

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 March 1924 Registrar J. 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

6 March 1924

Henry James Smith
Marjory Majuba Ayers

Henry James Smith
Marjory Majuba Ayers
💍 1924/10198

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

39
23

Pareora West
Timaru

28 years
5 years

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

2220

6 March 1924

Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	6 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Smith	Marjory Majuba Ayers
	💍 1924/10198
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	39	23
Dwelling Place	Pareora West	Timaru
Length of Residence	28 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	2220
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

11 March 1924

Edward Walden Usher
Marjorie Rose Lange

Edward Waldin Ussher
Marjorie Rose Lange
💍 1924/10199

Widower
Spinster

Dairy Farmer
Domestic Duties

32
20

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
3 days

St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

2221

Ferdinand Charles William Lange (father)

11 March 1924

Rev. S. V. Gerard, Anglican

No	22
Date of Notice	11 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Walden Usher	Marjorie Rose Lange
BDM Match (95%)	Edward Waldin Ussher	Marjorie Rose Lange
	💍 1924/10199
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	2221
Consent	Ferdinand Charles William Lange (father)
Date of Certificate	11 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. V. Gerard, Anglican

21 March 1924

Richard Ernest Colwill
Alice Emily Winifred Harris

Richard Ernest Colwill
Alice Emily Winifred Harris
💍 1924/10200

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
26

Landsborough, Timaru
Woodlands Street, Timaru

11 years
18 years

Methodist Church, Woodlands Street, Timaru

2222

21 March 1924

Rev. J. Featherston, Methodist

No	23
Date of Notice	21 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Ernest Colwill	Alice Emily Winifred Harris
	💍 1924/10200
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Landsborough, Timaru	Woodlands Street, Timaru
Length of Residence	11 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Woodlands Street, Timaru
Folio	2222
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Featherston, Methodist

24 March 1924

William Whyte
Mary Wilson Farquhar

William Whyte
Mary Wilson Farquhar
💍 1924/10201

Bachelor
Spinster

Barter
Domestic Duties

33
24

Timaru
Timaru

11 months
1 month

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

2223

24 March 1924

Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

No	24
Date of Notice	24 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Whyte	Mary Wilson Farquhar
	💍 1924/10201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barter	Domestic Duties
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	11 months	1 month
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	2223
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

24 March 1924

Ernest Percival Charles Laurence
Isabella Laird

Ernest Percival Charles Lawrence
Isabella Laird
💍 1924/10202

Bachelor
Spinster

Land Salesman
Tailoress

24
24

Christchurch
Timaru

6 weeks
8 months

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

2224

24 March 1924

Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

No	25
Date of Notice	24 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Percival Charles Laurence	Isabella Laird
BDM Match (98%)	Ernest Percival Charles Lawrence	Isabella Laird
	💍 1924/10202
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Land Salesman	Tailoress
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Timaru
Length of Residence	6 weeks	8 months
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	2224
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Hughes, 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).