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 3205

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar J. G. Peter

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

10 January 1919

William Martin McCall Strathern
Christina Scheffelbein

William Martin McGill Strathern
Helen Christina Shieffelbein
💍 1919/1871

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

27
19

Makarewa
Makarewa

8 years
11 years

Residence of William Athey, Stirling St, Invercargill

1604

Edward Scheffelbein, Father

10 January 1919

Rev. John Cawley

No	11
Date of Notice	10 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Martin McCall Strathern	Christina Scheffelbein
BDM Match (82%)	William Martin McGill Strathern	Helen Christina Shieffelbein
	💍 1919/1871
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Makarewa	Makarewa
Length of Residence	8 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Athey, Stirling St, Invercargill
Folio	1604
Consent	Edward Scheffelbein, Father
Date of Certificate	10 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Cawley

14 January 1919

Arthur Joseph Fearn
Bessie Roberta Agnew

Arthur Joseph Fearn
Renee Roberta Agnew
💍 1919/1872

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

29
20

Invercargill
Gladstone, Invercargill

29 years
7 years

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

1605

Alexander B. Agnew, Father

14 January 1919

Registrar

No	12
Date of Notice	14 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Joseph Fearn	Bessie Roberta Agnew
BDM Match (90%)	Arthur Joseph Fearn	Renee Roberta Agnew
	💍 1919/1872
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Gladstone, Invercargill
Length of Residence	29 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	1605
Consent	Alexander B. Agnew, Father
Date of Certificate	14 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

15 January 1919

Alfred James Ball
Ethel Somerville

Alfred James Bull
Ethel Somerville
💍 1919/1873

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Linesman
Waitress

22
23

Invercargill
Invercargill

22 years
22 years

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

1606

15 January 1919

Registrar

No	13
Date of Notice	15 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred James Ball	Ethel Somerville
BDM Match (97%)	Alfred James Bull	Ethel Somerville
	💍 1919/1873
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Linesman	Waitress
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	22 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	1606
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

17 January 1919

Frederick George Double
Ethel Maud Cosgrove

Frederick George Double
Ethel Maud Cosgrove
💍 1919/1874

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Clerk

25
20

Invercargill
Lindisfarne, Invercargill

25 years
6 years

James B. Cosgrove's, 24 Baird St, Lindisfarne, Invercargill

1607

17 January 1919

Rev. H. N. Wright

No	14
Date of Notice	17 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick George Double	Ethel Maud Cosgrove
	💍 1919/1874
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Clerk
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Lindisfarne, Invercargill
Length of Residence	25 years	6 years
Marriage Place	James B. Cosgrove's, 24 Baird St, Lindisfarne, Invercargill
Folio	1607
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Wright

20 January 1919

Alexander Walker
Jemima Courtney

Alexander Walker
Selina Pilkinton
💍 1919/9207

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

46
33

Grove Bush, Invercargill
Grove Bush, Invercargill

3 days
33 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill

1608

20 January 1919

Rev. J. Collie

No	15
Date of Notice	20 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Walker	Jemima Courtney
BDM Match (66%)	Alexander Walker	Selina Pilkinton
	💍 1919/9207
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	46	33
Dwelling Place	Grove Bush, Invercargill	Grove Bush, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	33 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill
Folio	1608
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Collie

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).