Intentions to Marry, 1924 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840527, 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.

1924h contains pages 3075-3498, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 3273

District of Waikouaiti Quarter ending 30 June 1924 Registrar R. Davis

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

3 April 1924

William George Carling
Annie Graham Cleugh

William George Carling
Annie Graham Cleugh
💍 1924/3800

Widower (wife deceased 8 November 1907)
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

48
35

Waikouaiti
Waikouaiti

12 months
2 weeks

St. John's Church

5227

3 April 1924

Rev. H. B. W. White, Anglican

No	2
Date of Notice	3 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Carling	Annie Graham Cleugh
	💍 1924/3800
Condition	Widower (wife deceased 8 November 1907)	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	48	35
Dwelling Place	Waikouaiti	Waikouaiti
Length of Residence	12 months	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. John's Church
Folio	5227
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. W. White, Anglican

14 April 1924

John Vickers
Florence Margaret Orange

John Vickers
Florence Margaret Orange
💍 1924/3807

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
School Teacher

45
27

Karitane
Karitane

2 1/2 years
4 years

Presbyterian Church, Waikouaiti

5228

14 April 1924

Rev. J. J. Cairney, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	14 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Vickers	Florence Margaret Orange
	💍 1924/3807
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	School Teacher
Age	45	27
Dwelling Place	Karitane	Karitane
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Waikouaiti
Folio	5228
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Cairney, Presbyterian

17 April 1924

John James Puddy
Christina McLeod

John James Puddy
Christina McLeod
💍 1924/3808

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

49
43

Flag Swamp
Waikouaiti

49 years
43 years

Presbyterian Church, Waikouaiti

5229

17 April 1924

Rev. J. J. Cairney, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	17 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Puddy	Christina McLeod
	💍 1924/3808
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	49	43
Dwelling Place	Flag Swamp	Waikouaiti
Length of Residence	49 years	43 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Waikouaiti
Folio	5229
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Cairney, Presbyterian

29 May 1924

Ernest Edward Orchard Austin
Jilian Agnes Cleave

Ernest Edward Orchard Austin
Lilian Agnes Cleave
💍 1924/3809

Widower (wife deceased 22 March 1914)
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic

46
19

Waikouaiti
Waikouaiti

18 months
3 years

St. John's Church, Waikouaiti

5230

Richard Cleave (Father)

29 May 1924

Rev. H. B. W. White, Anglican

No	5
Date of Notice	29 May 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Edward Orchard Austin	Jilian Agnes Cleave
BDM Match (97%)	Ernest Edward Orchard Austin	Lilian Agnes Cleave
	💍 1924/3809
Condition	Widower (wife deceased 22 March 1914)	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic
Age	46	19
Dwelling Place	Waikouaiti	Waikouaiti
Length of Residence	18 months	3 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Waikouaiti
Folio	5230
Consent	Richard Cleave (Father)
Date of Certificate	29 May 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. W. White, Anglican

23 June 1924

Bruce Andrew Todd
Eleanor Preston

Bruce Andrew Todd
Eleanor Preston
💍 1924/3273

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Domestic

33
27

Waikouaiti
Goodwood

3 days
23 years

St. Paul's Church, Goodwood

5497

23 June 1924

Rev. H. B. W. White, Anglican

No	6
Date of Notice	23 June 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bruce Andrew Todd	Eleanor Preston
	💍 1924/3273
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Domestic
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Waikouaiti	Goodwood
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Goodwood
Folio	5497
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 June 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. W. White, Anglican

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).