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 3269

District of Mataura Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar J. Tho. Mare

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

4 April 1919

Williams Stewart
Grace Maud Barrett.

William Stewart
Grace Maud Barrett
💍 1919/4839

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Domestic Duties

33
29

Mataura
Mataura

6 years
6½ years

St Johns Church, Invercargill

4070

4 April 1919

Rev. W. A. Hamblett, Anglican

No	2
Date of Notice	4 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Williams Stewart	Grace Maud Barrett.
BDM Match (94%)	William Stewart	Grace Maud Barrett
	💍 1919/4839
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Domestic Duties
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Mataura	Mataura
Length of Residence	6 years	6½ years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church, Invercargill
Folio	4070
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Hamblett, Anglican

11 April 1919

John Litions McQuillan
Mabel Jessie Dickie

John Nilions McMillan
Mabel Jessie Dickie
💍 1919/4924

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
27

Mataura
Tuturau

3 days
27 years

House of Mr Alexander Dickie, Tuturau

4132

11 April 1919

Rev William W Brown, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	11 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Litions McQuillan	Mabel Jessie Dickie
BDM Match (91%)	John Nilions McMillan	Mabel Jessie Dickie
	💍 1919/4924
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Mataura	Tuturau
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr Alexander Dickie, Tuturau
Folio	4132
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev William W Brown, Presbyterian

22 April 1919

David Adam Nicholl
Johnina Elizabeth McKenna

David Adam Nicholl
Johnina Elizabeth McKinna
💍 1919/4925

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
18

Tuturau
Tuturau

28 years
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Tuturau

4133

Elizabeth McKenna, Mother

22 April 1919

Rev James Moody Simpson, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	22 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Adam Nicholl	Johnina Elizabeth McKenna
BDM Match (98%)	David Adam Nicholl	Johnina Elizabeth McKinna
	💍 1919/4925
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Tuturau	Tuturau
Length of Residence	28 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tuturau
Folio	4133
Consent	Elizabeth McKenna, Mother
Date of Certificate	22 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev James Moody Simpson, Presbyterian

31 May 1919

Frank Poskitt
Elizabeth Marion Walker.

Frank Poskitt
Elizabeth Marion Walker
💍 1919/4926

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic Duties

31
20

Mataura
Mataura

2½ years
20 years

St Saviours Anglican Church, Mataura

4134

John Arbuckle Walker, Father

31 May 1919

Rev W. A. Hamblett, Anglican

No	5
Date of Notice	31 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Poskitt	Elizabeth Marion Walker.
BDM Match (98%)	Frank Poskitt	Elizabeth Marion Walker
	💍 1919/4926
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Mataura	Mataura
Length of Residence	2½ years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Saviours Anglican Church, Mataura
Folio	4134
Consent	John Arbuckle Walker, Father
Date of Certificate	31 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev W. A. Hamblett, Anglican

10 June 1919

Frank Victor Green
Jane Wilson McQuillan

Frank Victor Green
Jane Wilson Mcquillan
💍 1919/4832

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

31
25

Ngaere
Mataura

7 years
15 years

Presbyterian Church, Gore

4064

10 June 1919

Rev J. M. Simpson, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	10 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Victor Green	Jane Wilson McQuillan
BDM Match (98%)	Frank Victor Green	Jane Wilson Mcquillan
	💍 1919/4832
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Ngaere	Mataura
Length of Residence	7 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Gore
Folio	4064
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. M. Simpson, Presbyterian

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).