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 3237

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar F. 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

164

4 September 1919

James Hamilton
Agnes Dawson McKenzie

James Hamilton
Agnes Dawson McKenzie
💍 1919/6960

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Shop keeper

40
38

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
2 days

Presbyterian Church Don St Invercargill

6470

4 September 1919

Rev. R. W. Burnside

No	164
Date of Notice	4 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hamilton	Agnes Dawson McKenzie
	💍 1919/6960
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Shop keeper
Age	40	38
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	2 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Don St Invercargill
Folio	6470
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. W. Burnside

165

4 September 1919

Richard Thomas Barnett
Amelia Parker

Richard Thomas Bennett
Amelia Rankin
💍 1919/6961

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocers Assistant
Waitress

24
23

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 years
4 years

Presbyterian Church Tay St Invercargill

6471

4 September 1919

Rev. J. Collie

No	165
Date of Notice	4 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Thomas Barnett	Amelia Parker
BDM Match (80%)	Richard Thomas Bennett	Amelia Rankin
	💍 1919/6961
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocers Assistant	Waitress
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Tay St Invercargill
Folio	6471
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Collie

166

6 September 1919

Alexander McCulloch
Janet Belmont

Alexander McCulloch
Janet Gilmour
💍 1919/6962

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

59
52

Makarewa
Makarewa

12 years
2 years

Registrar's Office Invercargill

6472

6 September 1919

Registrar

No	166
Date of Notice	6 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander McCulloch	Janet Belmont
BDM Match (85%)	Alexander McCulloch	Janet Gilmour
	💍 1919/6962
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	59	52
Dwelling Place	Makarewa	Makarewa
Length of Residence	12 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Invercargill
Folio	6472
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

167

6 September 1919

Francis Lewis Dawson
Margaret Alison Curry

Francis Lewis Dawson
Margaret Alison Curry
💍 1919/6963

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24
24

Longbush
Longbush

18 years
11 years

Methodist Church South Invercargill

6473

6 September 1919

Rev. H. A. Sharp

No	167
Date of Notice	6 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Lewis Dawson	Margaret Alison Curry
	💍 1919/6963
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Longbush	Longbush
Length of Residence	18 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church South Invercargill
Folio	6473
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Sharp

168

9 September 1919

William Muirhead
Marion Alice Near

William Muirhead
Marion Alice Neas
💍 1919/6964

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep farmer
Dressmaker

40
28

Waikiwi
Waikiwi

5 days
28 years

Residence of Russell G. Near Bainfield Road Waikiwi

6474

9 September 1919

Rev. W. J. Robertson

No	168
Date of Notice	9 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Muirhead	Marion Alice Near
BDM Match (97%)	William Muirhead	Marion Alice Neas
	💍 1919/6964
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep farmer	Dressmaker
Age	40	28
Dwelling Place	Waikiwi	Waikiwi
Length of Residence	5 days	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Russell G. Near Bainfield Road Waikiwi
Folio	6474
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 September 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).