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 2914

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar A. B. [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

30 March 1926

Aubrey Bowers Herdman
Frances Macdonald

Aubrey Bowers Herdman
Frances Macdonald
💍 1926/1305

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Clerk

25
22

Timaru
Timaru

21 years
5 years

Residence of John Macdonald, 190 North Street, Timaru

2661

30 March 1926

Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

No	36
Date of Notice	30 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Aubrey Bowers Herdman	Frances Macdonald
	💍 1926/1305
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Clerk
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	21 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Macdonald, 190 North Street, Timaru
Folio	2661
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

30 March 1926

William Thomas Durning
Winifred Eileen Geary

William Thomas Durning
Winifred Eileen Geaney
💍 1926/1306

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker
Domestic Servant

25
19

Timaru
Timaru

2 1/2 years
Life

Sacred Heart Church, Timaru

2662

Daniel Joseph Stephen Geary, Father

30 March 1926

Rev. W. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

No	37
Date of Notice	30 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Durning	Winifred Eileen Geary
BDM Match (95%)	William Thomas Durning	Winifred Eileen Geaney
	💍 1926/1306
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker	Domestic Servant
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	Life
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Timaru
Folio	2662
Consent	Daniel Joseph Stephen Geary, Father
Date of Certificate	30 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

31 March 1926

Charles Edward Logie
Nellie Primrose Hilton

Charles Edward Logie
Nellie Prinrose Hilton
💍 1926/1307

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Domestic

33
33

Timaru
Timaru

3 years
Life

Manse of Congregational Church, Theodorus Street, Timaru

2663

31 March 1926

Rev. J. W. Potts, Congregational

No	38
Date of Notice	31 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Logie	Nellie Primrose Hilton
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Edward Logie	Nellie Prinrose Hilton
	💍 1926/1307
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Domestic
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 years	Life
Marriage Place	Manse of Congregational Church, Theodorus Street, Timaru
Folio	2663
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Potts, Congregational

31 March 1926

Laurence Charles Wedrell
Irene Mary Ayers

Laurence Charles Wederell
Irene Mary Ayers
💍 1926/1308

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Assembler
Domestic

20
19

Timaru
Timaru

10 years
12 years

Manse of Woodlands Street Methodist Church, 142 North Street, Timaru

2664

William Nelson Wedrell, Robert Arthur Ayers, Father

31 March 1926

Rev. H. J. Odell, Methodist

No	39
Date of Notice	31 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Laurence Charles Wedrell	Irene Mary Ayers
BDM Match (98%)	Laurence Charles Wederell	Irene Mary Ayers
	💍 1926/1308
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Assembler	Domestic
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	10 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Manse of Woodlands Street Methodist Church, 142 North Street, Timaru
Folio	2664
Consent	William Nelson Wedrell, Robert Arthur Ayers, Father
Date of Certificate	31 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Odell, Methodist

31 March 1926

George Greve
Margaret Yule Wallace

George Grieve
Margaret Yule Wallace
💍 1926/1309

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

29
22

Timaru
Timaru

13 years
14 years

Trinity Presbyterian Church, Timaru

2665

31 March 1926

Rev. J. Stinson, Presbyterian

No	40
Date of Notice	31 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Greve	Margaret Yule Wallace
BDM Match (96%)	George Grieve	Margaret Yule Wallace
	💍 1926/1309
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	13 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	2665
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 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).