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 3215

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar F. G. Petro

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

15 April 1919

George Robert Perks
Margaret Jane Dawson

George Robert Burke
Margaret Jane Dawson
💍 1919/4841

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

23
24

Waikiwi
Waikiwi

1 year
4 years

Registrar's Office Invercargill

4072

22 April 1919

Registrar

No	55
Date of Notice	15 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Robert Perks	Margaret Jane Dawson
BDM Match (92%)	George Robert Burke	Margaret Jane Dawson
	💍 1919/4841
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Waikiwi	Waikiwi
Length of Residence	1 year	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Invercargill
Folio	4072
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

15 April 1919

William Doyle
Elizabeth Amy Brattis

William Doyle
Amy Elizabeth Craker
💍 1919/4842

Bachelor
Widow 24-11-18

Soldier
Domestic

30
28

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 months
28 years

Roman Catholic Church Tyne St Invercargill

4073

15 April 1919

Very Rev. W. Burke

No	56
Date of Notice	15 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Doyle	Elizabeth Amy Brattis
BDM Match (69%)	William Doyle	Amy Elizabeth Craker
	💍 1919/4842
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 24-11-18
Profession	Soldier	Domestic
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 months	28 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Tyne St Invercargill
Folio	4073
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. W. Burke

16 April 1919

William John Henry Peters
Nina Margaret Alexander

William John Henry Peters
Mina Margaret Alexander
💍 1919/4843

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

31
21

Woodlands
Woodlands

3 years
8 years

Presbyterian Church Woodlands Invercargill

4074

16 April 1919

Rev. H. C. Wedderspoon

No	57
Date of Notice	16 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Henry Peters	Nina Margaret Alexander
BDM Match (98%)	William John Henry Peters	Mina Margaret Alexander
	💍 1919/4843
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Woodlands	Woodlands
Length of Residence	3 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Woodlands Invercargill
Folio	4074
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. C. Wedderspoon

16 April 1919

Archibald Campbell McKillop
Barbara Elsie Erasmussen

Archibald Campbell McKillop
Barbara Elsie Erasmuson
💍 1919/4844

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic

30
24

Bluff
Invercargill

22 months
3 days

Residence of Donald McKillop 100 Liddel St Invercargill

4075

16 April 1919

Rev. H. W. Burridge

No	58
Date of Notice	16 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Campbell McKillop	Barbara Elsie Erasmussen
BDM Match (96%)	Archibald Campbell McKillop	Barbara Elsie Erasmuson
	💍 1919/4844
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Bluff	Invercargill
Length of Residence	22 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Donald McKillop 100 Liddel St Invercargill
Folio	4075
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Burridge

17 April 1919

Albert Edward Thurlow
Isabella Jane Henderson

Albert Edward Thurlon
Isabella Jane Henderson
💍 1919/4852

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Housekeeper

29
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
17 days

Residence of J. Henderson 87 St Andrew Road Invercargill

4076

17 April 1919

Rev. J. Collie

No	59
Date of Notice	17 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Thurlow	Isabella Jane Henderson
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Edward Thurlon	Isabella Jane Henderson
	💍 1919/4852
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Housekeeper
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	17 days
Marriage Place	Residence of J. Henderson 87 St Andrew Road Invercargill
Folio	4076
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 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).