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 3233

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar F. J. 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

144

19 August 1919

Samuel Browne
Frances Mary Sutton

Samuel Browne
Frances Mercy Sutton
💍 1919/6915

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheese maker
Domestic

25
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

1 month
3 months

Methodist Church Don Street Invercargill

6450

19 August 1919

Rev. H. O. Sharps

No	144
Date of Notice	19 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Browne	Frances Mary Sutton
BDM Match (95%)	Samuel Browne	Frances Mercy Sutton
	💍 1919/6915
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheese maker	Domestic
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 month	3 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Don Street Invercargill
Folio	6450
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. O. Sharps

145

19 August 1919

James Walker
Helen Free

James Walker
Helen Frew
💍 1919/6948

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

52
42

Woodlands
Invercargill

52 years
4 years

Presbyterian Church North Invercargill

6451

19 August 1919

Rev. J. Collie

No	145
Date of Notice	19 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Walker	Helen Free
BDM Match (95%)	James Walker	Helen Frew
	💍 1919/6948
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	52	42
Dwelling Place	Woodlands	Invercargill
Length of Residence	52 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church North Invercargill
Folio	6451
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Collie

146

19 August 1919

Thomas John Bailey
Margaret Wotherspoon Geddes

Thomas John Bailey
Margaret Wotherspoon Geddes
💍 1919/6959

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Fruitier

23
20

Invercargill
Invercargill

23 years
7 years

Presbyterian Church West Invercargill

6452

Peter McDermid Geddes, father

19 August 1919

Rev. H. W. Burridge

No	146
Date of Notice	19 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas John Bailey	Margaret Wotherspoon Geddes
	💍 1919/6959
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Fruitier
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	23 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church West Invercargill
Folio	6452
Consent	Peter McDermid Geddes, father
Date of Certificate	19 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Burridge

147

20 August 1919

Percival Gordon Beklenberg
Margaret Ann Sheddan

Percival Gordon Dahlenburg
Margaret Ann Sheddan
💍 1919/6966

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

29
30

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 weeks

Presbyterian Church East Invercargill

6453

20 August 1919

Rev. A. Mc Donald

No	147
Date of Notice	20 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Gordon Beklenberg	Margaret Ann Sheddan
BDM Match (92%)	Percival Gordon Dahlenburg	Margaret Ann Sheddan
	💍 1919/6966
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church East Invercargill
Folio	6453
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Mc Donald

148

23 August 1919

John Philip Pluto
Ellen Mary Callaghan

John Philip Plato
Ellen Mary Callaghan
💍 1919/6967

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Domestic

26
25

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 months
5 months

Presbyterian Church Tay Street Invercargill

6454

23 August 1919

Rev. E. Bissett

No	148
Date of Notice	23 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Philip Pluto	Ellen Mary Callaghan
BDM Match (97%)	John Philip Plato	Ellen Mary Callaghan
	💍 1919/6967
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 months	5 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Tay Street Invercargill
Folio	6454
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Bissett

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).