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 2945

District of Waimate Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar H. A. H. H. [illegible]

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 February 1926

Arthur Harold Thomson
Martha Lewis

Arthur Harold Thomson
Martha Lewis
💍 1926/1312

Bachelor
Spinster

Billiard Marker
Household Duties

36
36

Waimate
Glenavy

36 years
5 days

43 Rhodes street Waimate

2667

3 February 1926

Rev. J. D. Wilson, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	3 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Harold Thomson	Martha Lewis
	💍 1926/1312
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Billiard Marker	Household Duties
Age	36	36
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Glenavy
Length of Residence	36 years	5 days
Marriage Place	43 Rhodes street Waimate
Folio	2667
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Wilson, Presbyterian

10 February 1926

George Shefford
Annie Grant

George Shefford
Annie Grant
💍 1926/1313

Widower
Spinster

Fruit grower
Domestic

39
41

Waimate
Waimate

39 years
6 weeks

The Manse Waimate

2668

10 February 1926

Rev. J. D. Wilson, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	10 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Shefford	Annie Grant
	💍 1926/1313
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Fruit grower	Domestic
Age	39	41
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	39 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	The Manse Waimate
Folio	2668
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Wilson, Presbyterian

13 February 1926

Owen Turner
Mary Louisa Lane

Owen Turner
Mary Louisa Lane
💍 1926/1314

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housemaid

19
18

Waimate
Waimate

19 years
6 months

93 Parsonage Road Waimate

2669

Emma Turner, Mother; Harriet Lane, Mother

13 February 1926

Rev. J. D. Wilson, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	13 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Owen Turner	Mary Louisa Lane
	💍 1926/1314
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housemaid
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	19 years	6 months
Marriage Place	93 Parsonage Road Waimate
Folio	2669
Consent	Emma Turner, Mother; Harriet Lane, Mother
Date of Certificate	13 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Wilson, Presbyterian

15 March 1926

Hugh Jackson McKenzie
Phyllis Mary Craig

Hugh Jackson McKenzie
Phyllis Mary Craig
💍 1926/1315

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
21

Arno
Arno

18 years
2 years

Knox Church Waimate

2670

15 March 1926

Rev. J. R. Charman, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	15 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Jackson McKenzie	Phyllis Mary Craig
	💍 1926/1315
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Arno	Arno
Length of Residence	18 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church Waimate
Folio	2670
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Charman, Presbyterian

19 March 1926

Willie Rogers
Gladys Victoria Helly

Willie Rogers
Gladys Victoria Kelly
💍 1926/1316

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

26
21

Studholme Junction
Studholme Junction

20 years
5 years

St. Augustines Church Waimate

2671

19 March 1926

Rev. Canon Cocks, Anglican

No	5
Date of Notice	19 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Willie Rogers	Gladys Victoria Helly
BDM Match (98%)	Willie Rogers	Gladys Victoria Kelly
	💍 1926/1316
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Studholme Junction	Studholme Junction
Length of Residence	20 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustines Church Waimate
Folio	2671
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Cocks, Anglican

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).