Intentions to Marry, 1926 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840543, 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.

1926h contains pages 3199-3612, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 3215

District of East Taieri Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar M. J. Thompson

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

1 February 1926

Kennedy Russell Martin
Daisy Miller

Kennedy Russell Martin
Daisy Miller
💍 1926/1324

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrical Engineer
School Teacher

29
22

Brighton
Brighton

2 days
Life

Presbyterian Church, Brighton

2697

1 February 1926

Rev. Henry Thomas Blair, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	1 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kennedy Russell Martin	Daisy Miller
	💍 1926/1324
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrical Engineer	School Teacher
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Brighton	Brighton
Length of Residence	2 days	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Brighton
Folio	2697
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Thomas Blair, Presbyterian

12 February 1926

Arthur Stanley Ellis
May Maud McDonald

Arthur Stanley Ellis
May Maud McDonald
💍 1926/1325

Bachelor
Spinster

Jockey
Domestic

23
22

Mosgiel
Mosgiel

4 days
2 weeks

Presbyterian Church, Mosgiel

2698

12 February 1926

Rev. C. A. Kennedy, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	12 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Stanley Ellis	May Maud McDonald
	💍 1926/1325
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jockey	Domestic
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel	Mosgiel
Length of Residence	4 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Mosgiel
Folio	2698
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Kennedy, Presbyterian

22 February 1926

Daniel Snell
Marie Runciman Wilson

Daniel Snell
Ngaire Runciman Wilson
💍 1926/1326

Bachelor
Spinster

Horse Breaker
Domestic

39
27

Dwelling of Mr H. Wilson, Gordon Road, Mosgiel
Gordon Road, Mosgiel

5 years
27 years

Dwelling of Mr H. Wilson, Gordon Road, Mosgiel

2699

22 February 1926

Rev. R. Robertson, Baptist

No	3
Date of Notice	22 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Snell	Marie Runciman Wilson
BDM Match (91%)	Daniel Snell	Ngaire Runciman Wilson
	💍 1926/1326
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Horse Breaker	Domestic
Age	39	27
Dwelling Place	Dwelling of Mr H. Wilson, Gordon Road, Mosgiel	Gordon Road, Mosgiel
Length of Residence	5 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr H. Wilson, Gordon Road, Mosgiel
Folio	2699
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Robertson, Baptist

27 February 1926

James Dalziel Brown
Annie Davie

James Dalziel Brown
Annie Davie
💍 1926/1327

Widower (17 November 1924)
Widow (20 June 1920)

Gardener
Domestic Duties

58
57

Mosgiel
Mosgiel

4 years
1 year

Presbyterian Church Manse, Dey Street, Mosgiel

2700

27 February 1926

Rev. Chas. A. Kennedy, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	27 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Dalziel Brown	Annie Davie
	💍 1926/1327
Condition	Widower (17 November 1924)	Widow (20 June 1920)
Profession	Gardener	Domestic Duties
Age	58	57
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel	Mosgiel
Length of Residence	4 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Manse, Dey Street, Mosgiel
Folio	2700
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Chas. A. Kennedy, Presbyterian

4 March 1926

Arthur Mackie
Helen Margaret Kane

Arthur Mackie
Helen Margaret Kane
💍 1926/3394

Widower (22 February 1924)
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

36
22

Mosgiel
Mosgiel

3 weeks
2 weeks

Presbyterian Manse, Dey Street, Mosgiel

2701

4 March 1926

Rev. Chas. A. Kennedy, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	4 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Mackie	Helen Margaret Kane
	💍 1926/3394
Condition	Widower (22 February 1924)	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	36	22
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel	Mosgiel
Length of Residence	3 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Dey Street, Mosgiel
Folio	2701
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Chas. A. Kennedy, 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).