Intentions to Marry, 1926 Cust to Dunedin

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840542, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1926 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.

1926g contains pages 2769-3198, covering districts from Cust to Dunedin

Page 2807

District of Kaiapoi Quarter ending 30 September 1926 Registrar H. J. Clark

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

3 July 1926

John Bowan
Annie Drabble

John Cowan
Annie Drabble
💍 1926/5878

Bachelor
Spinster

Woollen mill employee
Domestic duties

26
21

Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi

3 days
21 years

Baptist Church, Kaiapoi

7706

3 July 1926

Rev. W. H. A. Vickery, Baptist

No	20
Date of Notice	3 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bowan	Annie Drabble
BDM Match (95%)	John Cowan	Annie Drabble
	💍 1926/5878
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woollen mill employee	Domestic duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Kaiapoi
Folio	7706
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. A. Vickery, Baptist

3 August 1926

Peter Gray
Irene Palma Johnson

Peter Gray
Irene Salma Johnson
💍 1926/5879

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Domestic duties

31
33

Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi

7 days
33 years

Residence of Mrs. Helen Eliza Johnson, Charles Street, Kaiapoi

7707

3 August 1926

Rev. W. G. Slade, Methodist

No	21
Date of Notice	3 August 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Gray	Irene Palma Johnson
BDM Match (97%)	Peter Gray	Irene Salma Johnson
	💍 1926/5879
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Domestic duties
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	7 days	33 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Helen Eliza Johnson, Charles Street, Kaiapoi
Folio	7707
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Slade, Methodist

13 September 1926

Leicester Heyward Hassall
Millicent Gertrude Frost

Leicester Heyward Harsall
Millicent Gertrude Frost
💍 1926/5880

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
Domestic duties

23
22

Clarkville
Clarkville

5 years
15 years

Methodist Church, Clarkville

7708

13 September 1926

Rev. W. G. Slade, Methodist

No	22
Date of Notice	13 September 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leicester Heyward Hassall	Millicent Gertrude Frost
BDM Match (98%)	Leicester Heyward Harsall	Millicent Gertrude Frost
	💍 1926/5880
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	Domestic duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Clarkville	Clarkville
Length of Residence	5 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Clarkville
Folio	7708
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 September 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Slade, Methodist

23 September 1926

Thomas David Bruntin
Daisy Rowena Amelia Williams

Thomas David Brunton
Daisy Rowena Amelia Williams
💍 1926/5881

Bachelor
Spinster

Cleaner, New Zealand Railways
Domestic duties

21
20

Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi

4 days
7 years

Baptist Church, Kaiapoi

7709

Joseph Davis Williams, father

23 September 1926

Brigadier F. Wallace, Salvation Army

No	23
Date of Notice	23 September 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas David Bruntin	Daisy Rowena Amelia Williams
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas David Brunton	Daisy Rowena Amelia Williams
	💍 1926/5881
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cleaner, New Zealand Railways	Domestic duties
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	4 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Kaiapoi
Folio	7709
Consent	Joseph Davis Williams, father
Date of Certificate	23 September 1926
Officiating Minister	Brigadier F. Wallace, Salvation Army

23 September 1926

Ebenezer Hunter
Hilda Fellows

Ebenezer Hunter
Hilda Fellow
💍 1926/5858

Bachelor
Spinster

Woollen mill employee
Woollen mill employee

25
23

Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi

9 months
4 years

Residence of M. H. Miller, Carew Street, Kaiapoi

7710

23 September 1926

Rev. G. H. Aitken, Presbyterian

No	24
Date of Notice	23 September 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ebenezer Hunter	Hilda Fellows
BDM Match (96%)	Ebenezer Hunter	Hilda Fellow
	💍 1926/5858
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woollen mill employee	Woollen mill employee
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	9 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of M. H. Miller, Carew Street, Kaiapoi
Folio	7710
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 September 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Aitken, 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).