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 2985

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 June 1924 Registrar C. R. Edmond

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

309

28 May 1924

Hugh Alexander McQuilken
Mary Ann Turner

Hugh Alexander McQuilkin
Mary Ann Turner
💍 1924/9602

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

33
36

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

St. Josephs Cathedral, Dunedin

3255

28 May 1924

W. Monaghan, Roman Catholic

No	309
Date of Notice	28 May 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Alexander McQuilken	Mary Ann Turner
BDM Match (98%)	Hugh Alexander McQuilkin	Mary Ann Turner
	💍 1924/9602
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	33	36
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Josephs Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	3255
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1924
Officiating Minister	W. Monaghan, Roman Catholic

310

28 May 1924

Simeon Kirby
Sarah Mitchell

Simeon Kirby
Sarah Mitchell
💍 1924/9603

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

49
33

Dunedin
Residence of Mrs M. Brown, 326 Castle Street, Dunedin

7 years
11 years

Residence of Mrs M. Brown, 326 Castle Street, Dunedin

3256

28 May 1924

H. C. Goffin, Salvation Army

No	310
Date of Notice	28 May 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Simeon Kirby	Sarah Mitchell
	💍 1924/9603
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	49	33
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Residence of Mrs M. Brown, 326 Castle Street, Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs M. Brown, 326 Castle Street, Dunedin
Folio	3256
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1924
Officiating Minister	H. C. Goffin, Salvation Army

311

29 May 1924

John Buchan
Emma Isabella Sawers

John Buchan
Emma Isabella Sawers
💍 1924/9604

Widower
Spinster

Fish Curer

65
48

Dunedin
Residence of Bridegroom, 261 Hanover Street, Dunedin

30 years
12 months

Residence of Bridegroom, 261 Hanover Street, Dunedin

3257

29 May 1924

A. H. Wallace, Congregational

No	311
Date of Notice	29 May 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Buchan	Emma Isabella Sawers
	💍 1924/9604
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Fish Curer
Age	65	48
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Residence of Bridegroom, 261 Hanover Street, Dunedin
Length of Residence	30 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Bridegroom, 261 Hanover Street, Dunedin
Folio	3257
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1924
Officiating Minister	A. H. Wallace, Congregational

312

29 May 1924

Richard William Lawrence
Isobel Lockerbie

Richard William Lawrence
Isobel Lockerbie
💍 1924/9581

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

22
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 days
2 years

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

3258

29 May 1924

Registrar

No	312
Date of Notice	29 May 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard William Lawrence	Isobel Lockerbie
	💍 1924/9581
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	3258
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1924
Officiating Minister	Registrar

313

30 May 1924

George Walter Driscoll
Annie Juste

George Walter Driscole
Annie Juste
💍 1924/9582

Widower
Widow

Gardener

63
63

Dunedin
Dunedin

15 years
17 years

St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin

3259

30 May 1924

M. J. Spillane, Roman Catholic

No	313
Date of Notice	30 May 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Walter Driscoll	Annie Juste
BDM Match (98%)	George Walter Driscole	Annie Juste
	💍 1924/9582
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Gardener
Age	63	63
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	15 years	17 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	3259
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1924
Officiating Minister	M. J. Spillane, Roman Catholic

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).