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 3221

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar H. 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

13 May 1919

Francis Darcy
Margaret Mary Poff

Francis Darcy
Margaret Mary Poff
💍 1919/4888

Bachelor
Widow

Farm Labourer
Farmer

45
39

Longbush
Longbush

4 weeks
10 years

Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill

4102

13 May 1919

Rev. J. O'Neill

No	85
Date of Notice	13 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Darcy	Margaret Mary Poff
	💍 1919/4888
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farm Labourer	Farmer
Age	45	39
Dwelling Place	Longbush	Longbush
Length of Residence	4 weeks	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill
Folio	4102
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Neill

13 May 1919

Richard Gray
Margaret Jane Stuart

Richard Gray
Margaret Jane Stuart
💍 1919/4895

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Domestic

34
23

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 years
2 months

Presbyterian Church, Invercargill

4103

13 May 1919

Rev. H. W. Burridge

No	86
Date of Notice	13 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Gray	Margaret Jane Stuart
	💍 1919/4895
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Invercargill
Folio	4103
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Burridge

16 May 1919

William Arthur Miller
Elsie Mary Colquhoun

William Arthur Miller
Elsie Mary Colquhoun
💍 1919/4896

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Milliner

22
20

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 years
20 years

Residence of Andrew Colquhoun, Eyre Street, Invercargill

4104

Andrew Cowan Colquhoun, Father

16 May 1919

Rev. G. Clement

No	87
Date of Notice	16 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur Miller	Elsie Mary Colquhoun
	💍 1919/4896
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Milliner
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Andrew Colquhoun, Eyre Street, Invercargill
Folio	4104
Consent	Andrew Cowan Colquhoun, Father
Date of Certificate	16 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Clement

19 May 1919

Joseph William Canning
Henrietta Gardner Wilson

Joseph William Canning
Henrietta Gardner Wilson
💍 1919/4897

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

30
29

Invercargill
Invercargill

one year
one year

English Church, Tay St, Invercargill

4105

19 May 1919

Ven. Archdeacon Richards

No	88
Date of Notice	19 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph William Canning	Henrietta Gardner Wilson
	💍 1919/4897
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	one year	one year
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay St, Invercargill
Folio	4105
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon Richards

19 May 1919

Franklin Allan Crawford
Annie Smith Lewis

Franklin Allan Crawford
Annie Smith Lewis
💍 1919/4898

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

28
21

Invercargill
Longbush

3 days
9 years

Methodist Church, Don St, Invercargill

4106

19 May 1919

Rev. H. A. Sharp

No	89
Date of Notice	19 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Franklin Allan Crawford	Annie Smith Lewis
	💍 1919/4898
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Longbush
Length of Residence	3 days	9 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Don St, Invercargill
Folio	4106
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Sharp

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).