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 2850

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 March 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

19 February 1925

Norman John Dickinson
Isabel Mary McPherson

Norman John Dickinson
Isabel Mary McPherson
💍 1925/1681

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Tailoress

27
23

Timaru
Timaru

14 years
11 years

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

2332

19 February 1925

Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

No	16
Date of Notice	19 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman John Dickinson	Isabel Mary McPherson
	💍 1925/1681
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Tailoress
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	14 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	2332
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

19 February 1925

John George Kennedy
Stella Elizabeth Rose

John George Kennedy
Stella Elizabeth Rose Cook
💍 1925/1682

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

29
26

Lake Pukaki
Timaru

3 months
24 years

St. Peter's Anglican Church, Kensington, Timaru

2333

19 February 1925

Ven. Arch. J. A. Julius, Anglican

No	17
Date of Notice	19 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Kennedy	Stella Elizabeth Rose
BDM Match (90%)	John George Kennedy	Stella Elizabeth Rose Cook
	💍 1925/1682
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Lake Pukaki	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 months	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Anglican Church, Kensington, Timaru
Folio	2333
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. J. A. Julius, Anglican

20 February 1925

William Wilson Walker
Ruby Doris Jones

William Wilson Walker
Ruby Doris Jones
💍 1925/1683

Bachelor
Spinster

Traveller
Saleswoman

33
32

Lawrence
Timaru

33 years
2 months

St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

2334

20 February 1925

Rev. J. V. Gerard, Anglican

No	18
Date of Notice	20 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Wilson Walker	Ruby Doris Jones
	💍 1925/1683
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Traveller	Saleswoman
Age	33	32
Dwelling Place	Lawrence	Timaru
Length of Residence	33 years	2 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	2334
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. V. Gerard, Anglican

23 February 1925

William Campbell
Elizabeth Cecilia Murray

William Campbell
Elizabeth Cecilia Murray
💍 1925/1660

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

37
28

Timaru
Timaru

5 1/2 years
4 months

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

2335

23 February 1925

Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	23 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Campbell	Elizabeth Cecilia Murray
	💍 1925/1660
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	37	28
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	5 1/2 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	2335
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

23 February 1925

Eric Robert McBonachy
Maris Lavina Moreton

Eric Robert McConachy
Mavis Lavinia Moreton
💍 1925/1661

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Clerk

24
21

Timaru
Timaru

22 years
15 years

Trinity Presbyterian Church, Russell Square, Timaru

2336

23 February 1925

Rev. J. Stinson, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	23 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Robert McBonachy	Maris Lavina Moreton
BDM Match (93%)	Eric Robert McConachy	Mavis Lavinia Moreton
	💍 1925/1661
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Clerk
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	22 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Presbyterian Church, Russell Square, Timaru
Folio	2336
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Stinson, 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).