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 3303

District of Riverton Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar T. Radmanzell

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

10/19

August 1919

Lawrence Garrick
Margaret Anne Beer

Lawrence Garrick
Margaret Annie Beer
💍 1919/7017

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Domestic Duties

34
25

Riverton
Riverton

3 days
20 years

Church of England Riverton

6504

12 August 1919

Rev. H. H. Parata, Church of England

No	10/19
Date of Notice	August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Garrick	Margaret Anne Beer
BDM Match (97%)	Lawrence Garrick	Margaret Annie Beer
	💍 1919/7017
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic Duties
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Riverton
Folio	6504
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. H. Parata, Church of England

11/19

19 August 1919

Alfred Deeks
Jessie Janie Saunders

Alfred Dicks
Janie Saunders
💍 1919/7018

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

30
26

Riverton
Riverton

4 days
26 years

Church of England Riverton

6505

19 August 1919

Rev. H. H. Parata, Church of England

No	11/19
Date of Notice	19 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Deeks	Jessie Janie Saunders
BDM Match (75%)	Alfred Dicks	Janie Saunders
	💍 1919/7018
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	4 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Riverton
Folio	6505
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. H. Parata, Church of England

12/19

20 August 1919

John Thomas Clark
Mary Agnes Turnbull

John Thomas Clark
Mary Agnes Turnbull
💍 1919/7019

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Laundress

23
25

Thornbury
Riverton

8 years
25 years

Presbyterian Church Riverton

6506

20 August 1919

Rev. C. A. Gray, Presbyterian

No	12/19
Date of Notice	20 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Clark	Mary Agnes Turnbull
	💍 1919/7019
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Laundress
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Thornbury	Riverton
Length of Residence	8 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Riverton
Folio	6506
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Gray, Presbyterian

13/19

25 August 1919

Arthur Stanley Bell
Dorothy Grace Price

Arthur Stanley Bell
Dorothy Grace Price
💍 1919/7020

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk
Chemist's assistant

26
28

Riverton
Riverton

3 days
11 years

Church of England Riverton

6507

25 August 1919

Rev. H. H. Parata, Church of England

No	13/19
Date of Notice	25 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Stanley Bell	Dorothy Grace Price
	💍 1919/7020
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	Chemist's assistant
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	3 days	11 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Riverton
Folio	6507
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. H. Parata, Church of England

14/19

26 August 1919

George Barry Forrest
Alice Beatrice Bailey

George Barry Forrest
Alice Beatrice Bailey
💍 1919/7021

Bachelor
Spinster

Golf professional
Dressmaker

29
31

Riverton
Riverton

3 days
Long

Methodist Church Riverton

6508

26 August 1919

Rev. G. G. Hall, Methodist

No	14/19
Date of Notice	26 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Barry Forrest	Alice Beatrice Bailey
	💍 1919/7021
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Golf professional	Dressmaker
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	3 days	Long
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Riverton
Folio	6508
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. G. Hall, Methodist

15/19

3 September 1919

Albert Edward Cox
Jane McDowell

Albert Edward Cox
Jane McDowell
💍 1919/6998

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
32

Riverton
Riverton

4 days
4 days

Residence Mr. J. McDowell, Thornbury

6509

3 September 1919

Rev. G. G. Hall, Methodist

No	15/19
Date of Notice	3 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Cox	Jane McDowell
	💍 1919/6998
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	32
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Residence Mr. J. McDowell, Thornbury
Folio	6509
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. G. Hall, Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).