Intentions to Marry, 1925 Cust to Dunedin

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840534, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1925 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.

1925g contains pages 2703-3132, covering districts from Cust to Dunedin

Page 2863

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar A. E. [illegible]

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

10 June 1925

Herbert Barker
Margaret Jane Winter

Herbert Barker
Margaret Jane Winter
💍 1925/5224

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

40
35

Timaru
Timaru

30 years
10 years

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

5086

10 June 1925

Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

No	81
Date of Notice	10 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Barker	Margaret Jane Winter
	💍 1925/5224
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	40	35
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	30 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	5086
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

11 June 1925

John Charles Lewis
Gwenda Bascelles McBonnochie

John Charles Lewis
Gwenda Casselles McConnochie
💍 1925/5225

Bachelor
Spinster

Land Proprietor
Saleswoman

24
21

Timaru
Timaru

4 years
6 weeks

Parsonage of Congregational Church, Timaru

5087

11 June 1925

Rev. J. W. Potts, Congregational

No	82
Date of Notice	11 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charles Lewis	Gwenda Bascelles McBonnochie
BDM Match (95%)	John Charles Lewis	Gwenda Casselles McConnochie
	💍 1925/5225
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Land Proprietor	Saleswoman
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Parsonage of Congregational Church, Timaru
Folio	5087
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Potts, Congregational

16 June 1925

Henry Joseph Pyke
Florence Emily Kellahan

Henry Joseph Pyke
Florence Emily Kellahan
💍 1925/10976

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Saleswoman

24
25

Timaru
Timaru

Life
10 years

Kensington Methodist Church, Timaru

5088

16 June 1925

Rev. H. J. Odell, Methodist

No	83
Date of Notice	16 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Joseph Pyke	Florence Emily Kellahan
	💍 1925/10976
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Saleswoman
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	Life	10 years
Marriage Place	Kensington Methodist Church, Timaru
Folio	5088
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Odell, Methodist

22 June 1925

Peter Macpherson
Sara Jane Ethel Vickers

Peter MacPherson
Sara Jane Ethel Vickers
💍 1925/5226

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

32
33

Hadlow
Hadlow

5 years
5 years

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

5089

22 June 1925

Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

No	84
Date of Notice	22 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Macpherson	Sara Jane Ethel Vickers
BDM Match (97%)	Peter MacPherson	Sara Jane Ethel Vickers
	💍 1925/5226
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	33
Dwelling Place	Hadlow	Hadlow
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	5089
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

24 June 1925

Ernest William Peterson
Catherine Jean Grant

Ernest William Peterson
Catherine Jean Grant
💍 1925/5227

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

21
30

Timaru
Timaru

9 days
10 days

Manse of Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

5090

24 June 1925

Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

No	85
Date of Notice	24 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest William Peterson	Catherine Jean Grant
	💍 1925/5227
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	30
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	9 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Manse of Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	5090
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1925
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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).