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 3249

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar F. 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

218

18 November 1919

John Charles Lindsey
Annie McKenzie

John Charles Lindsay
Annie McKenzie
💍 1919/9802

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
23

Otatara
Greenhills Sea Range

5 years
23 years

Residence of Mrs Francis B. McKenzie, Greenhills, Sea Range, Invercargill

9420

18 November 1919

Rev. A. Macdonald

No	218
Date of Notice	18 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charles Lindsey	Annie McKenzie
BDM Match (98%)	John Charles Lindsay	Annie McKenzie
	💍 1919/9802
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Otatara	Greenhills Sea Range
Length of Residence	5 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Francis B. McKenzie, Greenhills, Sea Range, Invercargill
Folio	9420
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Macdonald

219

18 November 1919

Stanley Archibald Hall
Mona Mary Thornton

Stanley Archibald Hall
Mona Mary Thruston
💍 1919/4571

Bachelor
Spinster

Auctioneer
Typiste

33
22

Invercargill
Dunedin

2 years
18 years

Residence of Mrs G. B. Hayward, 18 St Andrews [illegible], Dunedin

7610

18 November 1919

Rev. A. Macdonald

No	219
Date of Notice	18 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Archibald Hall	Mona Mary Thornton
BDM Match (92%)	Stanley Archibald Hall	Mona Mary Thruston
	💍 1919/4571
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer	Typiste
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs G. B. Hayward, 18 St Andrews [illegible], Dunedin
Folio	7610
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Macdonald

220

18 November 1919

Henry Davis Murray
Mary Ellen Drake

Henry David Murdoch
Mary Ellenor Drake
💍 1919/9803

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill-hand
Domestic

24
28

Kapuka
Kapuka

5 years
28 years

Residence of Mr Drake, Kapuka

9421

18 November 1919

Rev. A. C. Wedderspoon

No	220
Date of Notice	18 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Davis Murray	Mary Ellen Drake
BDM Match (81%)	Henry David Murdoch	Mary Ellenor Drake
	💍 1919/9803
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill-hand	Domestic
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Kapuka	Kapuka
Length of Residence	5 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Drake, Kapuka
Folio	9421
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Wedderspoon

221

19 November 1919

James Kenney
Jane White Daniel

James Kennedy
Jane White Barwell
💍 1919/9804

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

29
21

Invercargill
Otautau

3 days
21 years

English Church, Otautau

9422

19 November 1919

Rev. C. E. P. Webb

No	221
Date of Notice	19 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Kenney	Jane White Daniel
BDM Match (85%)	James Kennedy	Jane White Barwell
	💍 1919/9804
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Otautau
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Otautau
Folio	9422
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. P. Webb

222

20 November 1919

David Albert Gorsud
Vera Newton

David Albert Goodsir
Vera Newton
💍 1919/9805

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Domestic

20
19

Invercargill
Invercargill

20 years
2 years

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

9423

Annie Long, mother; Lucy Jane Newton, mother

20 November 1919

Registrar

No	222
Date of Notice	20 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Albert Gorsud	Vera Newton
BDM Match (90%)	David Albert Goodsir	Vera Newton
	💍 1919/9805
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Domestic
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	20 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	9423
Consent	Annie Long, mother; Lucy Jane Newton, mother
Date of Certificate	20 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).