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 3059

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 1925

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

413

28 July 1925

Walter James Brown
Doris Melba Norris

Walter James Brown
Doris Melba Norris
💍 1925/6401

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

25
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 days
22 years

Methodist Church, St. Kilda

6353

28 July 1925

E. S. Harkness, Methodist

No	413
Date of Notice	28 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter James Brown	Doris Melba Norris
	💍 1925/6401
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, St. Kilda
Folio	6353
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1925
Officiating Minister	E. S. Harkness, Methodist

414

28 July 1925

Edwin Gough
Agnes Macnamara

Edwin Gough
Agnes MacNamara
💍 1925/6402

Widower
Spinster

Gardener

59
48

Dunedin
Dunedin

16 years
47 years

Presbyterian Manse, 33 Young Street, St. Kilda

6354

28 July 1925

D. Heggie, Presbyterian

No	414
Date of Notice	28 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Gough	Agnes Macnamara
BDM Match (97%)	Edwin Gough	Agnes MacNamara
	💍 1925/6402
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	59	48
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	16 years	47 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, 33 Young Street, St. Kilda
Folio	6354
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1925
Officiating Minister	D. Heggie, Presbyterian

415

28 July 1925

Albert Henry Fretwell Cox
Maritana Augusta McGavin

Albert Henry Tretwell Cox
Maritana Augusta McGavin
💍 1925/6403

Bachelor
Widow

Civil Servant

40
42

Dunedin
Dunedin

22 years
28 years

First Church, Dunedin

6355

28 July 1925

E. N. Merrington, Presbyterian

No	415
Date of Notice	28 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Henry Fretwell Cox	Maritana Augusta McGavin
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Henry Tretwell Cox	Maritana Augusta McGavin
	💍 1925/6403
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	40	42
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	22 years	28 years
Marriage Place	First Church, Dunedin
Folio	6355
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1925
Officiating Minister	E. N. Merrington, Presbyterian

416

28 July 1925

George Edward Owen Cross
May Florence Hadler

George Edward Owen Cross
May Florence Hadler
💍 1925/6404

Bachelor
Spinster

Business Systems Expert

34
26

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
9 months

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

6356

28 July 1925

Registrar

No	416
Date of Notice	28 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Owen Cross	May Florence Hadler
	💍 1925/6404
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Business Systems Expert
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	6356
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

417

28 July 1925

Arthur Jamieson Bush
Wilhelmina Gibson Shaw

Arthur Jamieson Bush
Wilhelmina Gibson Shaw
💍 1925/6405

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

21
19

Brighton
Dunedin

13 years
2 years

Trinity Methodist Church, Stuart Street, Dunedin

6357

W. Shaw (Father)

28 July 1925

C. Dallaston, Baptist

No	417
Date of Notice	28 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Jamieson Bush	Wilhelmina Gibson Shaw
	💍 1925/6405
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Brighton	Dunedin
Length of Residence	13 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Methodist Church, Stuart Street, Dunedin
Folio	6357
Consent	W. Shaw (Father)
Date of Certificate	28 July 1925
Officiating Minister	C. Dallaston, Baptist

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).