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 2936

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 December 1926 Registrar [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

129

14 October 1926

Ivo William Cunningham
Myrtle Eileen Muriel Schrader

Ivo William Cunningham
Myrtle Eileen Muriel Schrader
💍 1926/9171

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Dressmaker

26
27

Timaru
Timaru

22 years
16 years

St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

10452

14 October 1926

Rev. G. V. Gerard, Anglican

No	129
Date of Notice	14 October 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ivo William Cunningham	Myrtle Eileen Muriel Schrader
	💍 1926/9171
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Dressmaker
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	22 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	10452
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. V. Gerard, Anglican

130

15 October 1926

Hugh Stewart
Margaret Anderson Chamberlain

Hugh Stewart
Margaret Anderson Chamberlain
💍 1926/9177

Widower (21/12/24)
Widow (2/7/14)

Retired Farmer
Domestic Duties

73
49

Timaru
Timaru

22 years
3 years

Residence of bride, 38 Matilda Street, Timaru

10453

15 October 1926

Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

No	130
Date of Notice	15 October 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Stewart	Margaret Anderson Chamberlain
	💍 1926/9177
Condition	Widower (21/12/24)	Widow (2/7/14)
Profession	Retired Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	73	49
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	22 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of bride, 38 Matilda Street, Timaru
Folio	10453
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

131

16 October 1926

John Garland Oats
Eileen Leadel Williams

John Garland Oats
Eileen Leadel Williams
💍 1926/9178

Bachelor
Spinster

Drapery Salesman
Shop Assistant

28
23

Timaru
Timaru

13 years
6 years

Methodist Church, Bank Street, Timaru

10454

16 October 1926

Rev. A. B. Lawry, Methodist

No	131
Date of Notice	16 October 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Garland Oats	Eileen Leadel Williams
	💍 1926/9178
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drapery Salesman	Shop Assistant
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	13 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Bank Street, Timaru
Folio	10454
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Lawry, Methodist

132

18 October 1926

John Douglas Washington
Jean Isabel Craig

John Douglas Washington
Jean Isabel Craig
💍 1926/9179

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Salesman
Domestic Duties

22
22

Timaru
Elandeboye, Temuka

2 weeks
7 years

Trinity Presbyterian Church, Timaru

10455

18 October 1926

Rev. John Anderson, Presbyterian

No	132
Date of Notice	18 October 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Douglas Washington	Jean Isabel Craig
	💍 1926/9179
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Salesman	Domestic Duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Elandeboye, Temuka
Length of Residence	2 weeks	7 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	10455
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Anderson, Presbyterian

133

18 October 1926

Thomas Charles Bullen
Mary Ellen McAuley

Thomas Charles Cullen
Mary Ellen McAuley
💍 1926/9180

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner
Domestic Duties

26
19

Timaru
Timaru

Life
Life

Sacred Heart Church, Timaru

10456

no person in New Zealand having authority by law to give consent.

6 November 1926

Rev. F. Kerley, Roman Catholic

No	133
Date of Notice	18 October 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Charles Bullen	Mary Ellen McAuley
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Charles Cullen	Mary Ellen McAuley
	💍 1926/9180
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Domestic Duties
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Timaru
Folio	10456
Consent	no person in New Zealand having authority by law to give consent.
Date of Certificate	6 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Kerley, 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).