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 3317

District of Winton Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar E. W. Falck

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

7 April 1919

William King Waters
Bessie Margaretta Keast

William King Waters
Bessie Margaretta Keast
💍 1919/4916

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Saleswoman

28
23

Winton
Winton

5 years
21 years

Presbyterian Manse, Winton

4147

7 April 1919

Rev. A. McNeur, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	7 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William King Waters	Bessie Margaretta Keast
	💍 1919/4916
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Saleswoman
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Winton	Winton
Length of Residence	5 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Winton
Folio	4147
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. McNeur, Presbyterian

14 April 1919

Walter William Sands
Helen Campbell Agnew Keast

Walter William Sands
Helen Campbell Agnew Keast
💍 1919/4917

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's Assistant
Domestic Duties

32
21

Winton
Winton

32 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Winton

4148

14 April 1919

Rev. A. McNeur, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	14 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter William Sands	Helen Campbell Agnew Keast
	💍 1919/4917
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's Assistant	Domestic Duties
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Winton	Winton
Length of Residence	32 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Winton
Folio	4148
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. McNeur, Presbyterian

12 April 1919

Francis Humphrys Mulligan
Mary McGregor Keast

Francis Humphrys Mulligan
Mary McGregor Keast
💍 1919/4918

Widower
Spinster

Shop Assistant
Shop Assistant

39
20

Winton
Winton

3 days
20 years

Holy Trinity Church, Winton

4149

Bessie Margaretta Keast, Sister

12 April 1919

Rev. C. Webb, Anglican

No	4
Date of Notice	12 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Humphrys Mulligan	Mary McGregor Keast
	💍 1919/4918
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Shop Assistant	Shop Assistant
Age	39	20
Dwelling Place	Winton	Winton
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Winton
Folio	4149
Consent	Bessie Margaretta Keast, Sister
Date of Certificate	12 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Webb, Anglican

17 April 1919

Donald William Campbell
Amy Margaret Mary Flynn

Donald William Campbell
Amy Margaret Mary Flynn
💍 1919/2815

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Duties

31
29

Limehills
Dunedin

20 years
6 years

Roman Catholic Church, South Dunedin

2696

17 April 1919

Rev. J. Delaney, Roman Catholic

No	5
Date of Notice	17 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald William Campbell	Amy Margaret Mary Flynn
	💍 1919/2815
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Duties
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Limehills	Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, South Dunedin
Folio	2696
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Delaney, Roman Catholic

14 April 1919

John Thomas May
Henrietta Reed Irwin

John Thomas May
Henrietta Reid Irwin
💍 1919/4919

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

42
26

Winton
Lochiel

42 years
26 years

Residence of Robert Irwin, Lochiel

4150

14 April 1919

Rev. A. McNeur, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	14 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas May	Henrietta Reed Irwin
BDM Match (98%)	John Thomas May	Henrietta Reid Irwin
	💍 1919/4919
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	42	26
Dwelling Place	Winton	Lochiel
Length of Residence	42 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Robert Irwin, Lochiel
Folio	4150
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. McNeur, 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).