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 3121

District of Tokomairiro Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar P. D. McGuire

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

7 October 1919

George Linklater
Jane Jerve Roulston

George Linklater
Jane Jerve Roulston
💍 1919/9575

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30
29

Hillend
Hillend

8 years
10 years

Residence of Mrs Jane Roulston Hillend

9344

7 October 1919

Rev A Morton Presbyterian

No	18
Date of Notice	7 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Linklater	Jane Jerve Roulston
	💍 1919/9575
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Hillend	Hillend
Length of Residence	8 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Jane Roulston Hillend
Folio	9344
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A Morton Presbyterian

14 October 1919

Leonard Dickson
Annie Grace Coombe

Leonard Dickson
Annie Grace Coombe
💍 1919/9577

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

23
26

Milton
Milton

3 days
24 years

Anglican Church Milton

9345

14 October 1919

Rev H Goldthorpe Anglican

No	19
Date of Notice	14 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Dickson	Annie Grace Coombe
	💍 1919/9577
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Milton	Milton
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Milton
Folio	9345
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H Goldthorpe Anglican

7 November 1919

William James Harvey
Martha Verinder Cockburn

William James Harvey
Martha Verinder Cockburn
💍 1919/9578

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

26
22

Moneymore
Moneymore

6 years
10 years

Residence of Mr Walter Cockburn Moneymore

9346

7 November 1919

Rev H Clark Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	7 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Harvey	Martha Verinder Cockburn
	💍 1919/9578
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Moneymore	Moneymore
Length of Residence	6 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Walter Cockburn Moneymore
Folio	9346
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H Clark Presbyterian

21 November 1919

Archibald Hyslop
Christina Margaret Allane Craig

Archibald Hyslop
Christina Margaret Allana Craig
💍 1919/9579

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
25

Awamangu
Awamangu

25 years
8 years

Residence of William Craig Willowbend Awamangu

9347

21 November 1919

Rev A Morton Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	21 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Hyslop	Christina Margaret Allane Craig
BDM Match (98%)	Archibald Hyslop	Christina Margaret Allana Craig
	💍 1919/9579
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Awamangu	Awamangu
Length of Residence	25 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Craig Willowbend Awamangu
Folio	9347
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A Morton Presbyterian

18 December 1919

Rigby Blair Morgan
Janet Hislop Sinclair

Rigby Blair Morgan
Janet Hislop Sinclair
💍 1919/9580

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

34
24

Taieri Mouth
Waihola

34 years
24 years

Presbyterian Church Waihola

9348

18 December 1919

Rev R McCully Presbyterian

No	22
Date of Notice	18 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rigby Blair Morgan	Janet Hislop Sinclair
	💍 1919/9580
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Taieri Mouth	Waihola
Length of Residence	34 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Waihola
Folio	9348
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev R McCully 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).

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).