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 3246

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar F. H. Petrie

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

203

4 November 1919

Albert Francis James Heath
Catherine Daniel Henry Fessey Philpott

Albert Francis James Heath
Catherine Daniel Fessey Philpott
💍 1919/9809

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

29
24

Invercargill
Morton Mains

4 days
4 years

Residence of William Philpott, Morton Mains, Invercargill

9405

4 November 1919

Rev. A. C. Wedderspoon

No	203
Date of Notice	4 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Francis James Heath	Catherine Daniel Henry Fessey Philpott
BDM Match (92%)	Albert Francis James Heath	Catherine Daniel Fessey Philpott
	💍 1919/9809
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Morton Mains
Length of Residence	4 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Philpott, Morton Mains, Invercargill
Folio	9405
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Wedderspoon

204

4 November 1919

Richard Harris
Marion McLeod

Richard Harris
Marion McLeod
💍 1919/9810

Widower
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic

40
32

Invercargill
Taramoa

4 days
32 years

Residence of George McLeod, Taramoa, Invercargill

9406

4 November 1919

Rev. J. S. Ponder

No	204
Date of Notice	4 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Harris	Marion McLeod
	💍 1919/9810
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic
Age	40	32
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Taramoa
Length of Residence	4 days	32 years
Marriage Place	Residence of George McLeod, Taramoa, Invercargill
Folio	9406
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Ponder

205

6 November 1919

John Thompson
Julia Cecilia Ryan

John Thompson
Julia Cecilia Ryan
💍 1919/9811

Bachelor
Spinster

Teamster
Domestic

21
21

Myross Bush
Myross Bush

5 weeks
21 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill

9407

6 November 1919

Rev. H. N. Woods

No	205
Date of Notice	6 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thompson	Julia Cecilia Ryan
	💍 1919/9811
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teamster	Domestic
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Myross Bush	Myross Bush
Length of Residence	5 weeks	21 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill
Folio	9407
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Woods

206

6 November 1919

Albert Anderson
Amelia McCallum

Albert Anderson
Amelia McCallum
💍 1919/9812

Bachelor
Spinster

Tallyman
Domestic

28
22

Gorge Road
Gorge Road

4 years
22 years

Residence of James McCallum, Gorge Road, Invercargill

9408

6 November 1919

Rev. A. C. Wedderspoon

No	206
Date of Notice	6 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Anderson	Amelia McCallum
	💍 1919/9812
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tallyman	Domestic
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Gorge Road	Gorge Road
Length of Residence	4 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of James McCallum, Gorge Road, Invercargill
Folio	9408
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Wedderspoon

207

6 November 1919

William George Mills
Margaret Josephine Monarch

William George Mills
Margaret Josephine Murdoch
💍 1919/9790

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman WFR
Dressmaker

24
36

Invercargill
Invercargill

24 years
36 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill

9409

6 November 1919

Rev. H. N. Woods

No	207
Date of Notice	6 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Mills	Margaret Josephine Monarch
BDM Match (92%)	William George Mills	Margaret Josephine Murdoch
	💍 1919/9790
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman WFR	Dressmaker
Age	24	36
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	24 years	36 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill
Folio	9409
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Woods

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).