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 3209

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

7 March 1919

Andrew Harper
Violet Jane Batt

Andrew Harper
Viola Jane Butt
💍 1919/1868

Bachelor
Spinster

Prison Warder
Domestic

36
30

Invercargill
Waikiwi

30 years
30 years

Presbyterian Church First Invercargill

1624

7 March 1919

Rev J. Collie

No	31
Date of Notice	7 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Harper	Violet Jane Batt
BDM Match (91%)	Andrew Harper	Viola Jane Butt
	💍 1919/1868
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Prison Warder	Domestic
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Waikiwi
Length of Residence	30 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church First Invercargill
Folio	1624
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Collie

8 March 1919

Richard Gardner Speirs
Maura Janet Martin

Richard Gardner Speirs
Marion Janet Martin
💍 1919/1869

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Typiste

33
26

Invercargill
Invercargill

33 years
26 years

Presbyterian Church North Invercargill

1625

8 March 1919

Rev E. Bissett

No	32
Date of Notice	8 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Gardner Speirs	Maura Janet Martin
BDM Match (89%)	Richard Gardner Speirs	Marion Janet Martin
	💍 1919/1869
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Typiste
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	33 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church North Invercargill
Folio	1625
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev E. Bissett

10 March 1919

Angus McKenzie
Mary Ford Baldwin

Morell McKenzie
Mary Ford Baldwin
💍 1919/1828

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

24
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

24 years
24 years

Roman Catholic Church Parish Invercargill

1626

10 March 1919

Very Rev W. Burke

No	33
Date of Notice	10 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Angus McKenzie	Mary Ford Baldwin
BDM Match (80%)	Morell McKenzie	Mary Ford Baldwin
	💍 1919/1828
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	24 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Parish Invercargill
Folio	1626
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Very Rev W. Burke

12 March 1919

John Seaward Dodds
Robina Thomson

John Seaward Dodds
Robina Thomson
💍 1919/1839

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic

22
19

Invercargill
Invercargill

22 years
4 years

Presbyterian Church North Invercargill

1627

Kate Agnes Lorra, mother

12 March 1919

Rev J. Collie

No	34
Date of Notice	12 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Seaward Dodds	Robina Thomson
	💍 1919/1839
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	22 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church North Invercargill
Folio	1627
Consent	Kate Agnes Lorra, mother
Date of Certificate	12 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Collie

12 March 1919

John Norton
Bessie Jones

John Norton
Bessie Joss
💍 1919/1845

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home duties

43
29

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Church Parish Invercargill

1628

12 March 1919

Rev H. Woods

No	35
Date of Notice	12 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Norton	Bessie Jones
BDM Match (92%)	John Norton	Bessie Joss
	💍 1919/1845
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home duties
Age	43	29
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Parish Invercargill
Folio	1628
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. Woods

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).