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 3052

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

378

6 July 1925

John O'Brien
Mary Louisa Lister

John O'Brien
Mary Louisa Lister
💍 1925/6346

Bachelor
Divorced Decree Absolute 21 June 1919

Drainage Board Foreman

54
49

Dunedin
Dunedin

10 years
10 years

Residence of Rev. W. Walker, 56 Royal Terrace, Dunedin

6321

6 July 1925

W. Walker, Methodist

No	378
Date of Notice	6 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John O'Brien	Mary Louisa Lister
	💍 1925/6346
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree Absolute 21 June 1919
Profession	Drainage Board Foreman
Age	54	49
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. W. Walker, 56 Royal Terrace, Dunedin
Folio	6321
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1925
Officiating Minister	W. Walker, Methodist

379

7 July 1925

John Alexander McLennan
Elizabeth Newlands Tweedie

John Alexander McLennan
Elizabeth Newlands Tweedie
💍 1925/6347

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
28

Dunedin
Milton

3 days
28 years

Presbyterian Church, North East Valley

6322

7 July 1925

G. Miller, Presbyterian

No	379
Date of Notice	7 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander McLennan	Elizabeth Newlands Tweedie
	💍 1925/6347
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Milton
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, North East Valley
Folio	6322
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1925
Officiating Minister	G. Miller, Presbyterian

380

7 July 1925

George Frederick Robinson
Norah Kathleen Coombs

George Frederick Robinson
Norah Kathleen Coombs
💍 1925/6348

Bachelor
Widow 17 December 1919

Farmer

45
43

Dunedin
Ravensbourne

6 years
43 years

Presbyterian Manse, 342 High Street, Dunedin

6323

7 July 1925

H. Maclean, Presbyterian

No	380
Date of Notice	7 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Frederick Robinson	Norah Kathleen Coombs
	💍 1925/6348
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 17 December 1919
Profession	Farmer
Age	45	43
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Ravensbourne
Length of Residence	6 years	43 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, 342 High Street, Dunedin
Folio	6323
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1925
Officiating Minister	H. Maclean, Presbyterian

381

8 July 1925

Arthur Ralph Armishaw
Mary Elizabeth Bare

Arthur Ralph Armishaw
Mary Elizabeth Bare
💍 1925/6349

Widower 19 February 1919
Widow 26 November 1918

Carpenter

46
42

Dunedin
Dunedin

15 years
42 years

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

6324

8 July 1925

Deputy Registrar

No	381
Date of Notice	8 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Ralph Armishaw	Mary Elizabeth Bare
	💍 1925/6349
Condition	Widower 19 February 1919	Widow 26 November 1918
Profession	Carpenter
Age	46	42
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	15 years	42 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	6324
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

382

8 July 1925

Thomas James Harrison
Esther Anne Smith

Thomas James Marrison
Esther Ann Smith
💍 1925/6350

Widower 24 June 1919
Widow 23 March 1909

Retired Butcher

65
52

Port Chalmers
Dunedin

43 years
3 days

St. Peters Church, Caversham

6325

8 July 1925

W. H. Roberts, Anglican

No	382
Date of Notice	8 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas James Harrison	Esther Anne Smith
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas James Marrison	Esther Ann Smith
	💍 1925/6350
Condition	Widower 24 June 1919	Widow 23 March 1909
Profession	Retired Butcher
Age	65	52
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Dunedin
Length of Residence	43 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Caversham
Folio	6325
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1925
Officiating Minister	W. H. Roberts, 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).

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).