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 2885

District of Waimate Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar N. L. Thomas

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

5 January 1925

D'Arcy Arthur Stanley Hughes
Elfleda Jane Bitchener

D'Arcy Arthur Stanley Hughes
Elfleda Jane Bitchener
💍 1925/1706

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Inspector
Domestic Duties

36
31

Pembroke
Hook, Waimate

7 months
23 years

Residence of Mr. J. Bitchener, Hook

2357

5 January 1925

A. H. Fowles, Methodist

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	D'Arcy Arthur Stanley Hughes	Elfleda Jane Bitchener
	💍 1925/1706
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Inspector	Domestic Duties
Age	36	31
Dwelling Place	Pembroke	Hook, Waimate
Length of Residence	7 months	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Bitchener, Hook
Folio	2357
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1925
Officiating Minister	A. H. Fowles, Methodist

23 January 1925

William Graham
Lily Butler Moore

William Graham
Lily Cutler Moore
💍 1925/1707

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Teacher

58
34

Hastings, Hawkes Bay
Diman Road, Waimate

17 years
1 month

Residence of Mr. J. Moore, Diman Road, Waimate

2358

23 January 1925

F. R. Charman, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	23 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Graham	Lily Butler Moore
BDM Match (97%)	William Graham	Lily Cutler Moore
	💍 1925/1707
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Teacher
Age	58	34
Dwelling Place	Hastings, Hawkes Bay	Diman Road, Waimate
Length of Residence	17 years	1 month
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Moore, Diman Road, Waimate
Folio	2358
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1925
Officiating Minister	F. R. Charman, Presbyterian

29 January 1925

John James Mumford
Anita Violet Abbott

John James Neumford
Anita Violet Abbott
💍 1925/1708

Bachelor
Spinster

Hardware Assistant
Milliner

27
28

Waimate
Waimate

17 years
3 years

Saint Augustines Church, Waimate

2359

29 January 1925

P. J. Cocks, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	29 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Mumford	Anita Violet Abbott
BDM Match (95%)	John James Neumford	Anita Violet Abbott
	💍 1925/1708
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hardware Assistant	Milliner
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	17 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Saint Augustines Church, Waimate
Folio	2359
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1925
Officiating Minister	P. J. Cocks, Church of England

19 February 1925

George William Hunt
Helen Rudd

George William Hunt
Helen Rudd
💍 1925/1685

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Domestic Duties

21
23

Saint Andrews
Duntroon

Life
5 years

Dwelling of Mr. G. Rudd, High Street, Waimate

2360

19 February 1925

J. D. Wilson, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	19 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Hunt	Helen Rudd
	💍 1925/1685
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic Duties
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Saint Andrews	Duntroon
Length of Residence	Life	5 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. G. Rudd, High Street, Waimate
Folio	2360
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1925
Officiating Minister	J. D. Wilson, Presbyterian

23 February 1925

Dennis Herdman
Isobel Wain

Dennis Herdman
Isobel Wain
💍 1925/1686

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
25

Waimate
Waimate

3 days
2 weeks

Saint Augustines Church, Waimate

2361

23 February 1925

P. J. Cocks, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	23 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Dennis Herdman	Isobel Wain
	💍 1925/1686
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Saint Augustines Church, Waimate
Folio	2361
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1925
Officiating Minister	P. J. Cocks, Church of England

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).