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 2930

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 September 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

107

17 August 1926

Frederick Hicks
Queenie Claribel Goodman

Frederick Hicks
Queenie Claribel Goodman
💍 1926/6993

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

23
19

Timaru
Timaru

2 days
Life

St. Michaels Anglican Church, Wilson Street, Timaru

7767

Joseph Goodman, Father

17 August 1926

Rev. E. A. Osmers, Anglican

No	107
Date of Notice	17 August 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Hicks	Queenie Claribel Goodman
	💍 1926/6993
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	2 days	Life
Marriage Place	St. Michaels Anglican Church, Wilson Street, Timaru
Folio	7767
Consent	Joseph Goodman, Father
Date of Certificate	17 August 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. A. Osmers, Anglican

108

19 August 1926

William George McKnight
Margaret Mary Fibbes

William George McKnight
Margaret Mary Fibbes
💍 1926/6994

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper's Assistant
Dressmaker

23
21

Timaru
Timaru

20 years
8 years

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

7768

19 August 1926

Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

No	108
Date of Notice	19 August 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George McKnight	Margaret Mary Fibbes
	💍 1926/6994
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper's Assistant	Dressmaker
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	20 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	7768
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

109

21 August 1926

Arthur Bertram Taylor
Ethel Haigh

Arthur Bertram Taylor
Ethel Haigh
💍 1926/6995

Widower
Spinster

Draper
Dressmaker

34
30

Timaru
Dunedin

3 days
Life

St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

7769

21 August 1926

Rev. G. V. Gerard, Anglican

No	109
Date of Notice	21 August 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Bertram Taylor	Ethel Haigh
	💍 1926/6995
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Dressmaker
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	7769
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 August 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. V. Gerard, Anglican

110

23 August 1926

John William Martin
Elizabeth May Copland

John William Martin
Elizabeth May Copland
💍 1926/6997

Bachelor
Spinster

Head Teacher
School Teacher

25
26

Timaru
Timaru

1 day
20 years

Trinity Presbyterian Church, Timaru

7770

23 August 1926

Rev. Alexander McNeur, Presbyterian

No	110
Date of Notice	23 August 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Martin	Elizabeth May Copland
	💍 1926/6997
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Head Teacher	School Teacher
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	1 day	20 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	7770
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 August 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexander McNeur, Presbyterian

111

30 August 1926

Claude Henry Latta
Elsie Victoria Hogg

Claude Henry Latta
Elsie Victoria Hogg
💍 1926/6998

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
School Teacher

23
25

Ratanui
Timaru

4 years
5 years

Residence of Mary Diack Hogg, 74 North Street, Timaru

7771

30 August 1926

Rev. J. Stinson, Presbyterian

No	111
Date of Notice	30 August 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Henry Latta	Elsie Victoria Hogg
	💍 1926/6998
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	School Teacher
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Ratanui	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mary Diack Hogg, 74 North Street, Timaru
Folio	7771
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Stinson, Presbyterian

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).