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 2913

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar A. R. Hughes

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 March 1926

James Wilson Neil
Edith Ellen Campbell

James Wilson Arneil
Edith Ellen Campbell
💍 1926/1301

Widower
Widow

Hairdresser
Domestic

60
48

Timaru
Ashburton

4 years
4 months

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Timaru

2657

27 March 1926

A. E. Reynolds, Registrar

No	31
Date of Notice	27 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Wilson Neil	Edith Ellen Campbell
BDM Match (92%)	James Wilson Arneil	Edith Ellen Campbell
	💍 1926/1301
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic
Age	60	48
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Timaru
Folio	2657
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1926
Officiating Minister	A. E. Reynolds, Registrar

27 March 1926

Ernest Richardson Fleming
Annie Dommett Vucetich

Ernest Richardson Fleming
Annie Donnett Vucetich
💍 1926/1302

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic

28
24

Rakaia
Timaru

2 weeks
2 1/2 years

Presbyterian Church, Highfield, Timaru

2658

27 March 1926

Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

No	32
Date of Notice	27 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Richardson Fleming	Annie Dommett Vucetich
BDM Match (95%)	Ernest Richardson Fleming	Annie Donnett Vucetich
	💍 1926/1302
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Rakaia	Timaru
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Highfield, Timaru
Folio	2658
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

27 March 1926

John McInteer
Ethel Josephine Dockrill

John McInteer
Ethel Josephine Dockrill
💍 1926/9627

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's Assistant
Dressmaker

30
27

Otorohanga
Timaru

4 years
1 week

St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

5587

27 March 1926

Ven. Arch. J. A. Julius, Anglican

No	33
Date of Notice	27 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McInteer	Ethel Josephine Dockrill
	💍 1926/9627
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's Assistant	Dressmaker
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Otorohanga	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 years	1 week
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	5587
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. J. A. Julius, Anglican

27 March 1926

James McKay Scott
Mabel Hannah Mary Thickett

James McKay Scott
Mabel Hannah Mary Thickett
💍 1926/1303

Bachelor
Spinster

Woollen Drawer
Dressmaker

35
30

Timaru
Maungati

5 years
6 years

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

2659

27 March 1926

Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

No	34
Date of Notice	27 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McKay Scott	Mabel Hannah Mary Thickett
	💍 1926/1303
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woollen Drawer	Dressmaker
Age	35	30
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Maungati
Length of Residence	5 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	2659
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

29 March 1926

William Thomas Hanis
Mary Margaret Nolan

William Thomas Harris
Mary Margaret Nolan
💍 1926/1304

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic

29
28

Timaru
Timaru

24 years
6 years

Sacred Heart Church, Timaru

2660

29 March 1926

Rev. W. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

No	35
Date of Notice	29 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Hanis	Mary Margaret Nolan
BDM Match (95%)	William Thomas Harris	Mary Margaret Nolan
	💍 1926/1304
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	24 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Timaru
Folio	2660
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

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).