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 3059

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1926

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

101

17 February 1926

John Robertson
Matakokiri Te Rangihaeta Te Awhitu

John Robertson
Matakokiri Te Rangihaeata Te Awhitu
💍 1926/2895

Widower
Widow

Civil Servant

36
30

Otakou
Otakou

2 weeks
2 weeks

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

1480

17 February 1926

Registrar

No	101
Date of Notice	17 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robertson	Matakokiri Te Rangihaeta Te Awhitu
BDM Match (99%)	John Robertson	Matakokiri Te Rangihaeata Te Awhitu
	💍 1926/2895
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Otakou	Otakou
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	1480
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Registrar

102

17 February 1926

Frederick Ernest Gallagher
Annie Louisa Mazey Preston

Frederick Ernest Gallagher
Annie Louisa Mazey Preston
💍 1926/2896

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

19
18

Dunedin
Dunedin

11 years
18 years

Residence of Mr. B. Halford, 53 Meadow Street, Mornington

1481

Theresa Frances Gallagher (Mother), Annie Christina Preston (Mother)

17 February 1926

R. Raine, Methodist

No	102
Date of Notice	17 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Ernest Gallagher	Annie Louisa Mazey Preston
	💍 1926/2896
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	11 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. B. Halford, 53 Meadow Street, Mornington
Folio	1481
Consent	Theresa Frances Gallagher (Mother), Annie Christina Preston (Mother)
Date of Certificate	17 February 1926
Officiating Minister	R. Raine, Methodist

103

18 February 1926

Thomas Main Bain
Margaret Adealia McAuliffe

Thomas Main Bain
Margaret Adealia McAuliffe
💍 1926/2897

Widower
Divorced Decree Absolute 1 July 1925

Iron Machinist

54
49

Dunedin
Dunedin

16 years
2 months

Central Mission Parsonage, 56 Royal Terrace, Dunedin

1482

18 February 1926

W. Walker, Methodist

No	103
Date of Notice	18 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Main Bain	Margaret Adealia McAuliffe
	💍 1926/2897
Condition	Widower	Divorced Decree Absolute 1 July 1925
Profession	Iron Machinist
Age	54	49
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	16 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Central Mission Parsonage, 56 Royal Terrace, Dunedin
Folio	1482
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1926
Officiating Minister	W. Walker, Methodist

104

18 February 1926

John Thomas Donaldson
Eileen Alice Bain

John Thomas Donaldson
Eileen Alice Bain
💍 1926/2898

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

25
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

7 years
22 years

Baptist Church, Hanover Street, Dunedin

1483

18 February 1926

C. Dallaston, Baptist

No	104
Date of Notice	18 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Donaldson	Eileen Alice Bain
	💍 1926/2898
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Hanover Street, Dunedin
Folio	1483
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1926
Officiating Minister	C. Dallaston, Baptist

105

18 February 1926

William Alfred Davies
Ruby Wilhelmina Lawrence

William Alfred Davies
Ruby Wilhilmina Lawrence
💍 1926/2899

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

26
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

14 years
4 years

St. Matthew's Church, Stafford Street, Dunedin

1484

18 February 1926

A. C. H. Button, Anglican

No	105
Date of Notice	18 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alfred Davies	Ruby Wilhelmina Lawrence
BDM Match (98%)	William Alfred Davies	Ruby Wilhilmina Lawrence
	💍 1926/2899
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	14 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Stafford Street, Dunedin
Folio	1484
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1926
Officiating Minister	A. C. H. Button, 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).