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 2806

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 June 1924 Registrar F. 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

8 April 1924

Charles Bertrand Lynch
Teresa Bernadette O'Sullivan

Charles Bertrand Lynch
Teresa Bernadette O'Sullivan
💍 1924/3648

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk
Insurance Clerk

26
27

Gisborne
Timaru

18 months
9 years

Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

5082

8 April 1924

Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

No	32
Date of Notice	8 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Bertrand Lynch	Teresa Bernadette O'Sullivan
	💍 1924/3648
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	Insurance Clerk
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Timaru
Length of Residence	18 months	9 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	5082
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

8 April 1924

Charles Edward Smith
Violet Mary Butler

Charles Edward Smith
Violet Mary Butler
💍 1924/3649

Bachelor
Spinster

Wood Turner
Saleswoman

38
30

Timaru
Timaru

Life
11 years

Woodlands Street Methodist Church, Timaru

5083

8 April 1924

Rev. H. J. Odell, Methodist

No	33
Date of Notice	8 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Smith	Violet Mary Butler
	💍 1924/3649
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wood Turner	Saleswoman
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	Life	11 years
Marriage Place	Woodlands Street Methodist Church, Timaru
Folio	5083
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Odell, Methodist

9 April 1924

Forbes Martin White
Lyla Victoria Thompson

Forbes Martin White
Lyla Victoria Thompson
💍 1924/3650

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Officer
Domestic Duties

23
27

Waimate
Timaru

2 months
4 days

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

5084

9 April 1924

Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

No	34
Date of Notice	9 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Forbes Martin White	Lyla Victoria Thompson
	💍 1924/3650
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Officer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Timaru
Length of Residence	2 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	5084
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

9 April 1924

James Luke Lafferty
Joena Horne Kearney

James Luke McClafferty
Jocina Horne Kearney
💍 1924/3651

Bachelor
Widow

Joiner
Domestic

44
32

Timaru
Timaru

9 years
3 years

Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

5085

9 April 1924

Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

No	35
Date of Notice	9 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Luke Lafferty	Joena Horne Kearney
BDM Match (86%)	James Luke McClafferty	Jocina Horne Kearney
	💍 1924/3651
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Joiner	Domestic
Age	44	32
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	9 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	5085
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

10 April 1924

John Morrow
Annie Eileen Sides

John Morrow
Eileen Annie Sides
💍 1924/3652

Bachelor
Spinster

Buttermaker
Clerk

26
30

Timaru
Timaru

4 years
12 years

Residence of Mrs. M. Sides, 15 Te Weka Street, Timaru

5086

10 April 1924

Rev. A. C. Lawry, Methodist

No	36
Date of Notice	10 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Morrow	Annie Eileen Sides
BDM Match (72%)	John Morrow	Eileen Annie Sides
	💍 1924/3652
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Buttermaker	Clerk
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. M. Sides, 15 Te Weka Street, Timaru
Folio	5086
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Lawry, Methodist

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).