Intentions to Marry, 1919 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840487, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1919 is bound in seven volumes (a to g) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1919g contains pages 2943-3338, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 3087

District of Palmerston Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar A. McKinnon

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

5 July 1919

George Anthony Paterson
Margaret Weir Heron

George Authony Paterson
Margaret Weir Heron
💍 1919/6875

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

37
38

Palmerston
Palmerston

5 days
1 month

J D Patersons Dwelling Palmerston

6376

5 July 1919

Rev. J. Mackie, Presbyterian Palmerston

No	3
Date of Notice	5 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Anthony Paterson	Margaret Weir Heron
BDM Match (98%)	George Authony Paterson	Margaret Weir Heron
	💍 1919/6875
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	37	38
Dwelling Place	Palmerston	Palmerston
Length of Residence	5 days	1 month
Marriage Place	J D Patersons Dwelling Palmerston
Folio	6376
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Mackie, Presbyterian Palmerston

28 July 1919

Henry Walter Bedwell
Ellen Yeariss Johnston

Henry Walter Bedwell
Ellen Yearriss Johnston
💍 1919/6886

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal Miner
Domestic Servant

27
17

Palmerston
Palmerston

1 1/2 years
2 years

Anglican Church Palmerston

6377

Harriet Johnston, Mother

28 July 1919

Rev. C. Streete, Church of England Palmerston

No	4
Date of Notice	28 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Walter Bedwell	Ellen Yeariss Johnston
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Walter Bedwell	Ellen Yearriss Johnston
	💍 1919/6886
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal Miner	Domestic Servant
Age	27	17
Dwelling Place	Palmerston	Palmerston
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Palmerston
Folio	6377
Consent	Harriet Johnston, Mother
Date of Certificate	28 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Streete, Church of England Palmerston

27 August 1919

James Stenhouse
Margaret McLaren

James Stenhouse
Margaret McLaren
💍 1919/6892

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

39
30

Goodwood
Goodwood Puketapu Palmerston

39 years
30 years

Residence of Duncan McLaren Puketapu Goodwood

6378

27 August 1919

Rev. J Mackie, Presbyterian Palmerston

No	5
Date of Notice	27 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Stenhouse	Margaret McLaren
	💍 1919/6892
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	39	30
Dwelling Place	Goodwood	Goodwood Puketapu Palmerston
Length of Residence	39 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Duncan McLaren Puketapu Goodwood
Folio	6378
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J Mackie, Presbyterian Palmerston

20 September 1919

William McLeod
Isla Culling Duncan

William McLeod
Isla Culling Duncan
💍 1919/5164

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

47
21

Palmerston
Palmerston

47 years
2 years

Residence of Mrs Isla Lucy Duncan, Stromness St., Palmerston

6379

20 September 1919

Rev. Ernest Streete, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	20 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McLeod	Isla Culling Duncan
	💍 1919/5164
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	47	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston	Palmerston
Length of Residence	47 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Isla Lucy Duncan, Stromness St., Palmerston
Folio	6379
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Ernest Streete, Church of England

26 September 1919

Henry Francis Hocking
Marion Sutherland

Henry Francis Hocking
Marion Sutherland
💍 1919/6893

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

34
28

Dunback
Goodwood

30 years
12 years

Dwelling of Mrs Marion Sutherland, Goodwood

6380

26 September 1919

Rev. N. B. Pickering, Methodist

No	7
Date of Notice	26 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Francis Hocking	Marion Sutherland
	💍 1919/6893
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Dunback	Goodwood
Length of Residence	30 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mrs Marion Sutherland, Goodwood
Folio	6380
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. N. B. Pickering, Methodist

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).