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 3225

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 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

105

12 June 1919

William John Henry Kissell
Ruby Herman

William John Henry Kissell
Ruby Herman
💍 1919/4890

Bachelor
Spinster

Motorman
Domestic

29
22

Invercargill
Waikivi

28 years
22 years

Presbyterian Church Tay Street Invercargill

4121

12 June 1919

Rev. H. G. Burridge

No	105
Date of Notice	12 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Henry Kissell	Ruby Herman
	💍 1919/4890
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motorman	Domestic
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Waikivi
Length of Residence	28 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Tay Street Invercargill
Folio	4121
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Burridge

106

13 June 1919

William James Gray
Helen Chisholm

William James Gray
Helen Chisholm
💍 1919/4891

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruiterer
Nurse

23
29

Invercargill
Invercargill

7 days
8 days

Presbyterian Church Tay Street Invercargill

4122

13 June 1919

Rev. E. Bissett

No	106
Date of Notice	13 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Gray	Helen Chisholm
	💍 1919/4891
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruiterer	Nurse
Age	23	29
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 days	8 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Tay Street Invercargill
Folio	4122
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Bissett

107

13 June 1919

Sydney Arthur Blaikie
Lilian Mary Spark Officer

Sydney Arthur Blaikie
Lilian Mary Spark Officer
💍 1919/4892

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
20

Ryal Bush
West Plains

25 years
20 years

Residence of John Officer West Plains Invercargill

4123

13 June 1919

Rev. J. F. Ponder

No	107
Date of Notice	13 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Arthur Blaikie	Lilian Mary Spark Officer
	💍 1919/4892
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Ryal Bush	West Plains
Length of Residence	25 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Officer West Plains Invercargill
Folio	4123
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Ponder

108

16 June 1919

John Bailie Blaikie
Alice Lainsbury

John Barker Blakie
Alice Lainchbury
💍 1919/4893

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

41
47

Spar Bush
Clifton

41 years
4 days

Residence of Mrs Hannah G. Lainsbury of Clifton Invercargill

4124

16 June 1919

Rev. G. Clement

No	108
Date of Notice	16 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bailie Blaikie	Alice Lainsbury
BDM Match (81%)	John Barker Blakie	Alice Lainchbury
	💍 1919/4893
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	41	47
Dwelling Place	Spar Bush	Clifton
Length of Residence	41 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Hannah G. Lainsbury of Clifton Invercargill
Folio	4124
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Clement

109

17 June 1919

Thomas Alfred Wild
Violet Adaline Thomas

Thomas Alfred Wild
Violet Adaline Thomas
💍 1919/4894

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

21
20

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 days
2 days

English Church Tay Street Invercargill

4125

Edgar Thomas, Father

17 June 1919

Venerable Richards

No	109
Date of Notice	17 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Alfred Wild	Violet Adaline Thomas
	💍 1919/4894
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 days	2 days
Marriage Place	English Church Tay Street Invercargill
Folio	4125
Consent	Edgar Thomas, Father
Date of Certificate	17 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Venerable Richards

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).