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 3256

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar J. G. Peter

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

253

22 December 1919

William Samuel Harrold
Dorothy Smith Lawrence

William Samuel Harrold
Dorothy Smith Lawrence
💍 1919/9683

Widower 14 February 1916
Spinster

Inspector of Cruelty to Animals
Domestic

39
35

Invercargill
Greater Invercargill

4 years
5 days

Methodist Church, Leet Street, Invercargill

9452

22 December 1919

Reverend A. Peters, Methodist

No	253
Date of Notice	22 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Samuel Harrold	Dorothy Smith Lawrence
	💍 1919/9683
Condition	Widower 14 February 1916	Spinster
Profession	Inspector of Cruelty to Animals	Domestic
Age	39	35
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Greater Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 years	5 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Leet Street, Invercargill
Folio	9452
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Reverend A. Peters, Methodist

254

22 December 1919

Charles Lyons Carter
Mary Leslie Harper

Charlie Lyons Carter
Mary Leslie Harper
💍 1919/9684

Bachelor
Spinster

Lecturer on Chemistry
Teacher

24
27

Invercargill
Invercargill

11 years
27 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

9453

22 December 1919

Reverend H. Robson, Presbyterian

No	254
Date of Notice	22 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Lyons Carter	Mary Leslie Harper
BDM Match (95%)	Charlie Lyons Carter	Mary Leslie Harper
	💍 1919/9684
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lecturer on Chemistry	Teacher
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	11 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	9453
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Reverend H. Robson, Presbyterian

255

22 December 1919

Thomas Benjamin Buchanan
Edith Young

Thomas Benjamin Buchanan
Edith Youart
💍 1919/9685

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm-hand
Domestic

23
29

Invercargill
Invercargill

9 years
one month

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

9454

22 December 1919

Registrar

No	255
Date of Notice	22 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Benjamin Buchanan	Edith Young
BDM Match (88%)	Thomas Benjamin Buchanan	Edith Youart
	💍 1919/9685
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm-hand	Domestic
Age	23	29
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	9 years	one month
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	9454
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

256

23 December 1919

Alan Roy Cron
Florence Margaret Forder

Alan Roy Cross
Florence Margaret Goodsir
💍 1920/2864

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Saleswoman

23
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

6 years
24 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

129/20

23 December 1919

Reverend J. Collie, Presbyterian

No	256
Date of Notice	23 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alan Roy Cron	Florence Margaret Forder
BDM Match (85%)	Alan Roy Cross	Florence Margaret Goodsir
	💍 1920/2864
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Saleswoman
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	129/20
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Reverend J. Collie, Presbyterian

257

22 December 1919

Rory David Senior
Kathleen O'Shea

Rory David Senior
Kathleen O'Shea
💍 1919/9686

Bachelor
Spinster

Warder
Home duties

26
28

Invercargill
Invercargill

12 years
2 weeks

Roman Catholic Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

9455

22 December 1919

Very Reverend W. Burke, Roman Catholic

No	257
Date of Notice	22 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rory David Senior	Kathleen O'Shea
	💍 1919/9686
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warder	Home duties
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	12 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	9455
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Very Reverend W. Burke, Roman Catholic

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).