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 3223

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar F. 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

31 May 1919

William Hickon
Alice May Newton

William Hishon
Alice May Newton
💍 1919/4880

Bachelor
Spinster

Boiler maker
Domestic duties

28
23

Invercargill
Invercargill

38 years
20 years

Residence of Mr Newton, 102 Arthur St, Invercargill

4112

31 May 1919

Very Rev W. Burke

No	95
Date of Notice	31 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hickon	Alice May Newton
BDM Match (93%)	William Hishon	Alice May Newton
	💍 1919/4880
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boiler maker	Domestic duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	38 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Newton, 102 Arthur St, Invercargill
Folio	4112
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Very Rev W. Burke

2 June 1919

James David Stancombe
Annie Robin

James David Stancombe
Annie Bohm
💍 1919/4881

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
Domestic duties

21
26

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

4113

2 June 1919

Registrar

No	96
Date of Notice	2 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James David Stancombe	Annie Robin
BDM Match (82%)	James David Stancombe	Annie Bohm
	💍 1919/4881
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	Domestic duties
Age	21	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	4113
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

2 June 1919

William Robinson
Catherine McCann

William Robinson
Catherine McCann
💍 1919/4882

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Waitress

29
27

Makarewa
Makarewa

4 days
6 weeks

Roman Catholic Church, Waikiwi

4114

2 June 1919

Rev J. O'Neill

No	97
Date of Notice	2 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robinson	Catherine McCann
	💍 1919/4882
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Waitress
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Makarewa	Makarewa
Length of Residence	4 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Waikiwi
Folio	4114
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. O'Neill

2 June 1919

William James Ferguson
Margaret Catherine Howie

William James Ferguson
Margaret Cochrane Howie
💍 1919/4883

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Tailoress

29
27

Myross Bush
Invercargill

29 years
2 years

Presbyterian Manse, Waikiwi, Invercargill

4115

2 June 1919

Rev W. J. Robertson

No	98
Date of Notice	2 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Ferguson	Margaret Catherine Howie
BDM Match (92%)	William James Ferguson	Margaret Cochrane Howie
	💍 1919/4883
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Tailoress
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Myross Bush	Invercargill
Length of Residence	29 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Waikiwi, Invercargill
Folio	4115
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev W. J. Robertson

4 June 1919

James Rufus Johnston
Jessie Pearson

James Rufus Johnston
Jessie Pearsey
💍 1919/4884

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor agent
Draper

27
25

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church, North Road, Invercargill

4116

4 June 1919

Rev H. W. Burridge

No	99
Date of Notice	4 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Rufus Johnston	Jessie Pearson
BDM Match (93%)	James Rufus Johnston	Jessie Pearsey
	💍 1919/4884
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor agent	Draper
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, North Road, Invercargill
Folio	4116
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. W. Burridge

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).