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 3217

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar A. G. Petri

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

22 April 1919

Alfred Rupert Horner Simon
Janet Dewar Wilson

Alfred Rupert Norriet Simon
Janet Dewar Wilson
💍 1919/4874

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Agent
Nurse

25
22

Myross Bush
Invercargill

25 years
6 days

Residence of Jan. Dewar, 20 Newcastle St, Invercargill

4032

22 April 1919

Rev. J. Collie

No	65
Date of Notice	22 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Rupert Horner Simon	Janet Dewar Wilson
BDM Match (93%)	Alfred Rupert Norriet Simon	Janet Dewar Wilson
	💍 1919/4874
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Agent	Nurse
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Myross Bush	Invercargill
Length of Residence	25 years	6 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Jan. Dewar, 20 Newcastle St, Invercargill
Folio	4032
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Collie

23 April 1919

David Spowart
Kathleen Izobell Sherwill

David Spowart
Kathleen Isabell Sherwill
💍 1919/4875

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

22
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

7 days
7 days

Presbyterian Church, Dee St, Invercargill

4033

23 April 1919

Rev. H. G. Burridge

No	66
Date of Notice	23 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Spowart	Kathleen Izobell Sherwill
BDM Match (96%)	David Spowart	Kathleen Isabell Sherwill
	💍 1919/4875
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee St, Invercargill
Folio	4033
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Burridge

23 April 1919

Ernest Archie Johnston
Margaret Cecilia Gardner

Ernest Archie Edmiston
Margaret Cecilia Gardiner
💍 1919/4876

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Law Clerk

29
23

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 days
23 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill

4034

23 April 1919

Rev. E. Bissett

No	67
Date of Notice	23 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Archie Johnston	Margaret Cecilia Gardner
BDM Match (89%)	Ernest Archie Edmiston	Margaret Cecilia Gardiner
	💍 1919/4876
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Law Clerk
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill
Folio	4034
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Bissett

24 April 1919

Gavin Muir
Jane Currie Buchanan

Gavin Muir
Jane Currie Buchanan
💍 1919/4853

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocery Manager
Shop Assistant

26
28

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 years
6 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill

4035

24 April 1919

Rev. H. G. Burridge

No	68
Date of Notice	24 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gavin Muir	Jane Currie Buchanan
	💍 1919/4853
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocery Manager	Shop Assistant
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill
Folio	4035
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Burridge

26 April 1919

Alexander Marshall
Mearn Dyst

Alexander Marshall
Mearn Dyet
💍 1919/4854

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

26
29

Myross Bush
West Plains

1 year
29 years

Presbyterian Church, Waikiwi, Invercargill

4036

26 April 1919

Rev. W. J. Robertson

No	69
Date of Notice	26 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Marshall	Mearn Dyst
BDM Match (95%)	Alexander Marshall	Mearn Dyet
	💍 1919/4854
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Myross Bush	West Plains
Length of Residence	1 year	29 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Waikiwi, Invercargill
Folio	4036
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Robertson

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).