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 3321

District of Winton Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar A. M. Herd

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

30 October 1919

William Blake Cor
Annie Downie Stewart

William Blake Cox
Annie Downie Stewart
💍 1919/9793

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

29
27

South Hillend
Kawana

5 months
2 years

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Invercargill

9412

30 October 1919

Rev. H. W. Burridge, Presbyterian

No	16
Date of Notice	30 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Blake Cor	Annie Downie Stewart
BDM Match (97%)	William Blake Cox	Annie Downie Stewart
	💍 1919/9793
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	South Hillend	Kawana
Length of Residence	5 months	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Invercargill
Folio	9412
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Burridge, Presbyterian

25 November 1919

Absalom Drake
Margaret Robertson Roughan

Absalom Drake
Margaret Robertson Roughan
💍 1919/9693

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway employee
Domestic Duties

23
20

Winton
Drummond

3 days
6 days

Presbyterian Church, Winton

9486

Thomas Roughan, father

25 November 1919

Rev. A. McNeur, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	25 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Absalom Drake	Margaret Robertson Roughan
	💍 1919/9693
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway employee	Domestic Duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Winton	Drummond
Length of Residence	3 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Winton
Folio	9486
Consent	Thomas Roughan, father
Date of Certificate	25 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. McNeur, Presbyterian

2 December 1919

Ewen Campbell Agnew
Mary Olive Eileen Wilson

Ewen Campbell Agnew
Mary Olive Eileen Wilson
💍 1919/9694

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic Duties

23
21

Winton
Winton

7 months
20 years

Roman Catholic Church, Winton

9487

2 December 1919

Rev. P. O'Neill, Roman Catholic

No	18
Date of Notice	2 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ewen Campbell Agnew	Mary Olive Eileen Wilson
	💍 1919/9694
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Winton	Winton
Length of Residence	7 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Winton
Folio	9487
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. O'Neill, Roman Catholic

2 December 1919

Alexander Stephen McRae
Violet Edith Holland

Alexander Stephen McRae
Violet Edith Holland
💍 1919/9695

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
32

Hokonui
Hokonui

7 months
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Winton

9488

2 December 1919

Rev. A. McNeur, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	2 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Stephen McRae	Violet Edith Holland
	💍 1919/9695
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	32
Dwelling Place	Hokonui	Hokonui
Length of Residence	7 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Winton
Folio	9488
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. McNeur, Presbyterian

4 December 1919

John Alworth Procter
Mary Jane Munro

John Alworth Procter
Mary Jane Munro
💍 1919/9696

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

42
36

Oreti
Winton

20 years

Dwellinghouse of Mrs. Margaret Munro, Winton

9489

4 December 1919

Rev. A. McNeur, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	4 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alworth Procter	Mary Jane Munro
	💍 1919/9696
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	42	36
Dwelling Place	Oreti	Winton
Length of Residence	20 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Mrs. Margaret Munro, Winton
Folio	9489
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 December 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).