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 2809

District of Kaiapoi Quarter ending 31 December 1926 Registrar H. N. Clarkson

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 October 1926

William Koraho Hopkinson
Hera Parehonani Rupene

William Korako Hopkinson
Hera Parehouani Rupene
💍 1926/9113

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

31
23

Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi

26 years
23 years

Presbyterian Church, Kaiapoi

10412

19 October 1926

Rev. G. K. Aitken, Presbyterian

No	27
Date of Notice	19 October 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Koraho Hopkinson	Hera Parehonani Rupene
BDM Match (96%)	William Korako Hopkinson	Hera Parehouani Rupene
	💍 1926/9113
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	26 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kaiapoi
Folio	10412
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. K. Aitken, Presbyterian

28 October 1926

George Victor Blackburn
Winifred Constance Martin

George Victor Blackburn
Winifred Constance Martin
💍 1926/9114

Bachelor
Spinster

Woollen mill employee
Domestic Duties

24
21

Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi

24 years
3 years

Methodist Church, Kaiapoi

10413

28 October 1926

Rev. W. G. Slade, Methodist

No	28
Date of Notice	28 October 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Victor Blackburn	Winifred Constance Martin
	💍 1926/9114
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woollen mill employee	Domestic Duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	24 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Kaiapoi
Folio	10413
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Slade, Methodist

10 November 1926

Norman Trail
Josephine Annie Churchill

Norman Trail
Josephine Annie Churchill
💍 1926/9115

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil servant
Probationer Nurse

23
23

Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi

1 year
6 months

Anglican Church, Kaiapoi

10414

10 November 1926

Rev. J. T. Paddison, Anglican

No	29
Date of Notice	10 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Trail	Josephine Annie Churchill
	💍 1926/9115
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil servant	Probationer Nurse
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	1 year	6 months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Kaiapoi
Folio	10414
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Paddison, Anglican

16 November 1926

William Francis Bishop
Bella Dorothy Capill

William Francis Bishop
Bella Dorothy Capill
💍 1926/9116

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Woollen mill employee

23
22

Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi

5 years
22 years

Methodist Church, Kaiapoi

10415

16 November 1926

Rev. W. G. Slade, Methodist

No	30
Date of Notice	16 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Francis Bishop	Bella Dorothy Capill
	💍 1926/9116
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Woollen mill employee
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	5 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Kaiapoi
Folio	10415
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Slade, Methodist

15 December 1926

Raymond Monk
Mary Buchan Fowler

Raymond Monk
Mary Buchan Fowler
💍 1926/9117

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Woollen mill employee

21
20

Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi

21 years
3 years

Baptist Church, Kaiapoi

10416

Janet Robson Watson formerly Fowler, mother

15 December 1926

Rev. W. H. A. Vickery, Baptist

No	31
Date of Notice	15 December 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Monk	Mary Buchan Fowler
	💍 1926/9117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Woollen mill employee
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	21 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Kaiapoi
Folio	10416
Consent	Janet Robson Watson formerly Fowler, mother
Date of Certificate	15 December 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. A. Vickery, Baptist

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).