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 3252

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar F. 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

233

1 December 1919

John McCubbin
Mary Eaton Sim

John McCubbin
May Eston Sim
💍 1919/9641

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

27
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

7 days
18 months

Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill

9434

1 December 1919

Rev. H. G. Robinson, Presbyterian

No	233
Date of Notice	1 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McCubbin	Mary Eaton Sim
BDM Match (93%)	John McCubbin	May Eston Sim
	💍 1919/9641
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 days	18 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill
Folio	9434
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Robinson, Presbyterian

234

1 December 1919

Albert McIntyre Edwards
Margaret Undine George

Albert McIntyre Edwards
Margaret Undine George
💍 1919/9642

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway fireman
Domestic

25
28

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
9 days

Presbyterian Church, Esk St, Invercargill

9435

1 December 1919

Rev. H. W. Burridge, Presbyterian

No	234
Date of Notice	1 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert McIntyre Edwards	Margaret Undine George
	💍 1919/9642
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway fireman	Domestic
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	9 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Esk St, Invercargill
Folio	9435
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Burridge, Presbyterian

235

1 December 1919

Robert Paul Crawford
Eva Knuckey

Robert Paul Crawford
Gray Knuckey
💍 1919/9643

Bachelor
Spinster

Metal turner
Dressmaker

25
25

Invercargill
Invercargill

25 years
15 years

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

9436

1 December 1919

Registrar

No	235
Date of Notice	1 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Paul Crawford	Eva Knuckey
BDM Match (88%)	Robert Paul Crawford	Gray Knuckey
	💍 1919/9643
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Metal turner	Dressmaker
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	25 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	9436
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

236

1 December 1919

George Francis Herbert Deer
Margaret Metcalfe

George Frederick Herbert Due
Margaret Metcalfe
💍 1919/35

Widower
Widow

Gas Stoker
Boarding house keeper

39
46

Invercargill
Invercargill

6 years
5 months

Presbyterian Church, Forth Street, Invercargill

9437

3 December 1919

Rev. E. Gardiner, Presbyterian

No	236
Date of Notice	1 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Francis Herbert Deer	Margaret Metcalfe
BDM Match (86%)	George Frederick Herbert Due	Margaret Metcalfe
	💍 1919/35
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Gas Stoker	Boarding house keeper
Age	39	46
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 years	5 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Forth Street, Invercargill
Folio	9437
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Gardiner, Presbyterian

237

5 December 1919

Alexander Gray Fraser
Jewel Mary Crotty

Alexander Gray Fraser
Jessie May Witty
💍 1919/9645

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach builder
Milliner

33
26

Waikivi
Waikivi

33 years
3 months

English Church, Gladstone, Invercargill

9438

5 December 1919

Rev. G. Fynes-Clinton, Church of England

No	237
Date of Notice	5 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Gray Fraser	Jewel Mary Crotty
BDM Match (76%)	Alexander Gray Fraser	Jessie May Witty
	💍 1919/9645
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach builder	Milliner
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Waikivi	Waikivi
Length of Residence	33 years	3 months
Marriage Place	English Church, Gladstone, Invercargill
Folio	9438
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Fynes-Clinton, Church of England

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).