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 2907

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar G. A. Hislop

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

8 January 1926

Robert McArthur
Fanny Loughlan Smith

Robert McArthur
Fanny Loughlan Smith
💍 1926/3390

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

34
19

Gleniti
Gleniti

3 years
Life

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Timaru

2627

William Smith, Father

8 January 1926

G. A. Hislop, Deputy Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	8 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert McArthur	Fanny Loughlan Smith
	💍 1926/3390
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	34	19
Dwelling Place	Gleniti	Gleniti
Length of Residence	3 years	Life
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Timaru
Folio	2627
Consent	William Smith, Father
Date of Certificate	8 January 1926
Officiating Minister	G. A. Hislop, Deputy Registrar

16 January 1926

Francis Joseph Black
Elijah Jane Richards

Francis Joseph Black
Eliza Jane Richards
💍 1926/3391

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
28

Salisbury
Salisbury

7 years
2 years

Trinity Presbyterian Church, Timaru

2628

16 January 1926

Rev. W. H. Norton, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	16 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Joseph Black	Elijah Jane Richards
BDM Match (95%)	Francis Joseph Black	Eliza Jane Richards
	💍 1926/3391
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Salisbury	Salisbury
Length of Residence	7 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	2628
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Norton, Presbyterian

19 January 1926

Frank Rush
Emily Mary May Andrews

Frank Rush
Emily Mary May Andrews
💍 1926/3392

Widower
Spinster

Flour Miller
Domestic

48
25

Timaru
Timaru

6 years
Life

Church of Woodlands Street Methodist Church, 142 North Street, Timaru

2629

19 January 1926

Rev. H. J. Odell, Methodist

No	3
Date of Notice	19 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Rush	Emily Mary May Andrews
	💍 1926/3392
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Flour Miller	Domestic
Age	48	25
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	6 years	Life
Marriage Place	Church of Woodlands Street Methodist Church, 142 North Street, Timaru
Folio	2629
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Odell, Methodist

21 January 1926

John Menton
Florence Lizzie Davis

John Menton
Florence Lizzie Davis
💍 1926/3393

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic

41
43

St. Andrews
Pareora

18 months
3 years

Sacred Heart Church, Timaru

2630

21 January 1926

Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

No	4
Date of Notice	21 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Menton	Florence Lizzie Davis
	💍 1926/3393
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic
Age	41	43
Dwelling Place	St. Andrews	Pareora
Length of Residence	18 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Timaru
Folio	2630
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

21 January 1926

Robert Charles Hagedorn
Lilian Isabella Oborn

Robert Charles Hagedorn
Lilian Isabella Oborn
💍 1926/3370

Bachelor
Spinster

Furniture Manufacturer
Nurse

41
26

Westport
Timaru

Life
23 years

St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

2631

21 January 1926

Rev. E. C. C. Osmers, Anglican

No	5
Date of Notice	21 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Charles Hagedorn	Lilian Isabella Oborn
	💍 1926/3370
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Furniture Manufacturer	Nurse
Age	41	26
Dwelling Place	Westport	Timaru
Length of Residence	Life	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	2631
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. C. C. Osmers, Anglican

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).