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 3297

District of Otautau Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar T. V. Hodal

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

6 October 1919

Frederick Reid
Mary Maxwell Dixon

Frederick Reid
Mary Russell Dixon
💍 1919/9681

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Household Duties

23
20

Nightcaps
Nightcaps

6 Months
14 Years

Presbyterian Manse Otautau

9473

A. M. Dixon Father

6 October 1919

Rev Alex Macdonald Presbyterian Minister

No	18
Date of Notice	6 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Reid	Mary Maxwell Dixon
BDM Match (89%)	Frederick Reid	Mary Russell Dixon
	💍 1919/9681
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Household Duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Nightcaps	Nightcaps
Length of Residence	6 Months	14 Years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Otautau
Folio	9473
Consent	A. M. Dixon Father
Date of Certificate	6 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev Alex Macdonald Presbyterian Minister

13 October 1919

George Paterson
Annie Crombie Taylor

George Paterson
Annie Crampton Taylor
💍 1919/9689

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
28

Wairio
Heddon Bush

4 weeks
9 Years

Residence of Mrs Jane Taylor Heddon Bush

9474

13 October 1919

Rev. Richard Morgan Presbyterian Minister

No	19
Date of Notice	13 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Paterson	Annie Crombie Taylor
BDM Match (88%)	George Paterson	Annie Crampton Taylor
	💍 1919/9689
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Wairio	Heddon Bush
Length of Residence	4 weeks	9 Years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Jane Taylor Heddon Bush
Folio	9474
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Richard Morgan Presbyterian Minister

3 November 1919

John Alexander Ayton
Edith Lillian Cowan

John Alexander Ayton
Edith Lillian Cowan
💍 1919/9700

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

33
25

Wairio
Aparima

32 Years
11 1/2 Years

Residence of Mr Alex Cowan Aparima

9475

3 November 1919

Rev Alex Macdonald Presbyterian Minister

No	20
Date of Notice	3 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander Ayton	Edith Lillian Cowan
	💍 1919/9700
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Wairio	Aparima
Length of Residence	32 Years	11 1/2 Years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Alex Cowan Aparima
Folio	9475
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev Alex Macdonald Presbyterian Minister

10 November 1919

Reginald Albert Palmer
Catherine Grace Newton

Reginald Albert Palmer
Catherine Grace Newton
💍 1919/9707

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

29
22

Aparima
Aparima

4 Months
22 Years

Methodist Church Aparima

9476

10 November 1919

Rev. Thomas Coatsworth Methodist Minister

No	21
Date of Notice	10 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Albert Palmer	Catherine Grace Newton
	💍 1919/9707
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Aparima	Aparima
Length of Residence	4 Months	22 Years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Aparima
Folio	9476
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Coatsworth Methodist Minister

11 November 1919

James Kennedy
Jane White Maxwell

James Kennedy
Jane White Barwell
💍 1919/9804

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
21

Invercargill
Otautau

3 days
21 Years

St Johns Anglican Church Invercargill

9422

14 November 1919

Rev Cyprian Webb Anglican Priest

No	22
Date of Notice	11 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Kennedy	Jane White Maxwell
BDM Match (94%)	James Kennedy	Jane White Barwell
	💍 1919/9804
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Otautau
Length of Residence	3 days	21 Years
Marriage Place	St Johns Anglican Church Invercargill
Folio	9422
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev Cyprian Webb Anglican Priest

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).