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 3005

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 1924 Registrar A. E. Reynolds

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

406

15 July 1924

Joseph Lees
Amelia Woolford

Joseph Lees
Amelia Woolford
💍 1924/4686

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

36
33

Dunedin
Mosgiel

6 years
4 1/2 years

Baptist Church, Roslyn

5976

15 July 1924

L.J.B. Smith, Baptist

No	406
Date of Notice	15 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Lees	Amelia Woolford
	💍 1924/4686
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	36	33
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Mosgiel
Length of Residence	6 years	4 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Roslyn
Folio	5976
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1924
Officiating Minister	L.J.B. Smith, Baptist

407

15 July 1924

Michael Carroll O'Gorman
Christina Violet Good

Michael Carroll O'Gorman
Christina Violet Good
💍 1924/4697

Bachelor
Widow

Tramway Conductor

34
30

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
4 years

St. Josephs Cathedral, Dunedin

5977

15 July 1924

B. Kaveney, Roman Catholic

No	407
Date of Notice	15 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Carroll O'Gorman	Christina Violet Good
	💍 1924/4697
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Tramway Conductor
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Josephs Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	5977
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1924
Officiating Minister	B. Kaveney, Roman Catholic

408

16 July 1924

Milton Coombe
Violet Jones

Milton Coombe
Violet Jones
💍 1924/4704

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill Worker

21
20

Milton
Abbotsford

21 years
3 days

St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin

5978

J.J. Jones (Father)

16 July 1924

M. Howard, Roman Catholic

No	408
Date of Notice	16 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Milton Coombe	Violet Jones
	💍 1924/4704
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill Worker
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Milton	Abbotsford
Length of Residence	21 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	5978
Consent	J.J. Jones (Father)
Date of Certificate	16 July 1924
Officiating Minister	M. Howard, Roman Catholic

409

16 July 1924

Gershon George David Ottolangui, known as Gershon George David Langley
Jeannie McKinven Hill

Gershon George David Langley
Jeannie McKinven Hill
💍 1924/4705

Bachelor
Spinster

Stevedore

24
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

24 years
2 years

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

5979

16 July 1924

Registrar

No	409
Date of Notice	16 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gershon George David Ottolangui, known as Gershon George David Langley	Jeannie McKinven Hill
BDM Match (70%)	Gershon George David Langley	Jeannie McKinven Hill
	💍 1924/4705
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stevedore
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	24 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	5979
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1924
Officiating Minister	Registrar

410

16 July 1924

Thomas Robert Thomson
Emily Jane Gifford

Thomas Robert Thomson
Emily Jane Gifford
💍 1924/4706

Widower
Divorced Decree Absolute 14/11/1923

Sheet Metal Worker

35
31

Dunedin
Dunedin

35 years
31 years

Residence of Mr. R.H. Gifford, 18 Phillip Street, Dunedin

5980

16 July 1924

R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

No	410
Date of Notice	16 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Robert Thomson	Emily Jane Gifford
	💍 1924/4706
Condition	Widower	Divorced Decree Absolute 14/11/1923
Profession	Sheet Metal Worker
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	35 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. R.H. Gifford, 18 Phillip Street, Dunedin
Folio	5980
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1924
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid, 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).