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 2844

District of Temuka Quarter ending 30 September 1925 Registrar W. J. Gibbs

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

27 July 1925

Albert Ludemann
Rachel Stark Armit
formerly Hutchison

Albert Ludemann
Rachel Stark Armit
💍 1925/7345

Bachelor
Divorced (decree absolute dated 13 Nov 1924)

Labourer
Domestic Duties

41
36

Temuka
Temuka

8 years
18 years

Presbyterian church manse, Temuka

7373

27 July 1925

H. R. Fell, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	27 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Ludemann	Rachel Stark Armit formerly Hutchison
	💍 1925/7345
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (decree absolute dated 13 Nov 1924)
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	41	36
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	8 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian church manse, Temuka
Folio	7373
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1925
Officiating Minister	H. R. Fell, Presbyterian

28 July 1925

Andrew Bruce Scott
Elizabeth Alice Heap
formerly Isaac

Andew Bruce Scott
Elizabeth Alice Heap
💍 1925/7346

Bachelor
Divorced (decree absolute dated 14 March 1925)

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
27

Winchester
Temuka

27 years
27 years

Presbyterian church manse, Temuka

7374

28 July 1925

H. R. Fell, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	28 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Bruce Scott	Elizabeth Alice Heap formerly Isaac
BDM Match (97%)	Andew Bruce Scott	Elizabeth Alice Heap
	💍 1925/7346
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (decree absolute dated 14 March 1925)
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Winchester	Temuka
Length of Residence	27 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian church manse, Temuka
Folio	7374
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1925
Officiating Minister	H. R. Fell, Presbyterian

10 August 1925

John Moncrieff Rickus
Wiktoria Nopera

John Monlcour Rickus
Wikitoria Nopera
💍 1925/7347

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

28
27

Temuka
Temuka

28 years
14 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Temuka

7375

August 1925

D. Harrison, Deputy Registrar

No	21
Date of Notice	10 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Moncrieff Rickus	Wiktoria Nopera
BDM Match (83%)	John Monlcour Rickus	Wikitoria Nopera
	💍 1925/7347
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	28 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Temuka
Folio	7375
Consent
Date of Certificate	August 1925
Officiating Minister	D. Harrison, Deputy Registrar

28 August 1925

John Alexander Brown
Elspeth Brown

John Alexander Brown
Elspeth Brown
💍 1925/7355

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
37

Temuka
Temuka

27 years
37 years

Presbyterian Church, Temuka

7376

28 August 1925

H. R. Fell, Presbyterian / W. J. Gibbs, Registrar

No	22
Date of Notice	28 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander Brown	Elspeth Brown
	💍 1925/7355
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	37
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	27 years	37 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Temuka
Folio	7376
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 August 1925
Officiating Minister	H. R. Fell, Presbyterian / W. J. Gibbs, Registrar

17 September 1925

Nicholas Louis Fitzgerald
Elsie Elizabeth Westaway

Nicholas Louis Fitzgerald
Elsie Elizabeth Westaway
💍 1925/7366

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer
Domestic Duties

24
23

Timaru
Temuka

24 years
5 years

Methodist Church, Temuka

7377

17 September 1925

R. Richards, Methodist

No	23
Date of Notice	17 September 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nicholas Louis Fitzgerald	Elsie Elizabeth Westaway
	💍 1925/7366
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Temuka
Length of Residence	24 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Temuka
Folio	7377
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 September 1925
Officiating Minister	R. Richards, Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).