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 3036

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 June 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

307

27 May 1925

John Francis O'Connell
Mary Veronica Alves Bryant

John Francis O'Connell
Mary Veronica Alves Bryant
💍 1925/2269

Divorced Decree Absolute 6 December 1921
Spinster

Dairy Farmer

52
28

Dunedin
Dunedin

52 years
28 years

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

3027

27 May 1925

Registrar

No	307
Date of Notice	27 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Francis O'Connell	Mary Veronica Alves Bryant
	💍 1925/2269
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 6 December 1921	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Farmer
Age	52	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	52 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	3027
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

308

28 May 1925

John Cochrane McLachlan
Janet MacLeod

John Cochrane McLachlan
Janet MacLeod
💍 1925/2276

Bachelor
Spinster

Dental Mechanic

40
26

Dunedin
Dunedin

18 years
2 years

Presbyterian Manse, 518 Castle Street, Dunedin

3028

28 May 1925

J.M. Simpson, Presbyterian

No	308
Date of Notice	28 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Cochrane McLachlan	Janet MacLeod
	💍 1925/2276
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dental Mechanic
Age	40	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	18 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, 518 Castle Street, Dunedin
Folio	3028
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1925
Officiating Minister	J.M. Simpson, Presbyterian

309

28 May 1925

William George Hall
Constance Laurel Beaufort

William George Hall
Constance Laurel Beaufort
💍 1925/2277

Widower 26 September 1923
Spinster

Carpenter

35
33

Dunedin
Dunedin

8 weeks
10 years

Holy Cross Church, St. Kilda

3029

28 May 1925

A. Wingfield, Anglican

No	309
Date of Notice	28 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Hall	Constance Laurel Beaufort
	💍 1925/2277
Condition	Widower 26 September 1923	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	8 weeks	10 years
Marriage Place	Holy Cross Church, St. Kilda
Folio	3029
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1925
Officiating Minister	A. Wingfield, Anglican

310

29 May 1925

Thomas Arthur Moore
Elsie Penieul Watson

Thomas Arthur Moore
Elsie Penieul Watson
💍 1925/2278

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

20
19

Dunedin
Dunedin

20 years
5 years

Residence of Mr. J.M. Watson, 2 Baker Street, Caversham

3030

A.W. Moore (Father), J.M. Watson (Father)

29 May 1925

A.H. Wallace, Congregational

No	310
Date of Notice	29 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Arthur Moore	Elsie Penieul Watson
	💍 1925/2278
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J.M. Watson, 2 Baker Street, Caversham
Folio	3030
Consent	A.W. Moore (Father), J.M. Watson (Father)
Date of Certificate	29 May 1925
Officiating Minister	A.H. Wallace, Congregational

311

29 May 1925

Frank Ball
Dorothy Kirker McIntyre

Frank Ball
Dorothy Kirker McIntyre
💍 1925/2279

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

37
23

Wyndham
Dunedin

2 years
6 weeks

St. Stephens Church, Dunedin

3031

29 May 1925

R.E. Davies, Presbyterian

No	311
Date of Notice	29 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Ball	Dorothy Kirker McIntyre
	💍 1925/2279
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	37	23
Dwelling Place	Wyndham	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church, Dunedin
Folio	3031
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1925
Officiating Minister	R.E. Davies, 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).