Intentions to Marry, 1909 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840441, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1909 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1909a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1909b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1909c).

Page 616

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 1909 Registrar John Gaunson Petrie

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

194

29 December 1909

John Douglas McNeilage
Beatrice Margaret Illingworth

John Douglas McNeilage
Beatrice Margaret Illingworth
💍 1909/6009

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic

35
33

Avenal, Invercargill
East Road, Invercargill

3 days
13 years

Residence of Gavin James Illingworth, East Road, Invercargill

09/7794

29 December 1909

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	194
Date of Notice	29 December 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Douglas McNeilage	Beatrice Margaret Illingworth
	💍 1909/6009
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Avenal, Invercargill	East Road, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	13 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Gavin James Illingworth, East Road, Invercargill
Folio	09/7794
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

195

29 December 1909

Herbert William Grace
Margaret Louise Kellar

Herbert William Grace
Margaret Louise McKellar
💍 1909/6012

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Tailoress

27
28

Eye St, Invercargill
Eye St, Invercargill

2 years
28 years

Roman Catholic Church, Eye St, Invercargill

09/7796

29 December 1909

Very Rev. W. Burke Y.F.

No	195
Date of Notice	29 December 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert William Grace	Margaret Louise Kellar
BDM Match (96%)	Herbert William Grace	Margaret Louise McKellar
	💍 1909/6012
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Tailoress
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Eye St, Invercargill	Eye St, Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Eye St, Invercargill
Folio	09/7796
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1909
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. W. Burke Y.F.

196

30 December 1909

George Hipewood Brown
Jean Isabel Henderson

George Hipwood Brown
Jean Isabel Henderson
💍 1910/1795

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Domestic

28
20

Ettick St, Invercargill
Ettick St, Invercargill

2 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill

10/1759

Alexander Henderson, father

30 December 1909

Rev. J. R. Ryburn

No	196
Date of Notice	30 December 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Hipewood Brown	Jean Isabel Henderson
BDM Match (98%)	George Hipwood Brown	Jean Isabel Henderson
	💍 1910/1795
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Domestic
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Ettick St, Invercargill	Ettick St, Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill
Folio	10/1759
Consent	Alexander Henderson, father
Date of Certificate	30 December 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Ryburn

197

31 December 1909

James Livingstone
Agnes Free Wishart

James Livingstone
Agnes Frew Wishart
💍 1909/6010

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

29
19

Ryal Bush, Invercargill
North Kelvin St, Invercargill

7 days
4 days

Residence of Rev. E. Lindsay, Kelvin St, Invercargill

09/7795

George Wishart, father

31 December 1909

Rev. E. Lindsay

No	197
Date of Notice	31 December 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Livingstone	Agnes Free Wishart
BDM Match (97%)	James Livingstone	Agnes Frew Wishart
	💍 1909/6010
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Ryal Bush, Invercargill	North Kelvin St, Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. E. Lindsay, Kelvin St, Invercargill
Folio	09/7795
Consent	George Wishart, father
Date of Certificate	31 December 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Lindsay

198

31 December 1909

Frederick McDonald
Ethel Tracey

Frederick McDonald
Ethel May Carey
💍 1910/1796

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

33
21

Lumsden, Southland
Princetown, Invercargill

9 years
7 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyres St, Invercargill

10/1760

31 December 1909

Very Rev. W. Burke Y.F.

No	198
Date of Notice	31 December 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick McDonald	Ethel Tracey
BDM Match (80%)	Frederick McDonald	Ethel May Carey
	💍 1910/1796
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Lumsden, Southland	Princetown, Invercargill
Length of Residence	9 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyres St, Invercargill
Folio	10/1760
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1909
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. W. Burke Y.F.

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).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

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.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

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).