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 3248

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar F. J. Pelise

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

213

12 November 1919

David Hastings Lillico
Mary Rowan Gilmour

David Hastings Lilics
Mary Rowan Gilmore
💍 1919/9796

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Shop Assistant

28
27

Invercargill
Invercargill

17 years
9 months

Residence of Mr J. D. Gilmour, 162 Bowden St, Invercargill

9415

12 November 1919

Rev. H. W. Burridge

No	213
Date of Notice	12 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Hastings Lillico	Mary Rowan Gilmour
BDM Match (90%)	David Hastings Lilics	Mary Rowan Gilmore
	💍 1919/9796
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Shop Assistant
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	17 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. D. Gilmour, 162 Bowden St, Invercargill
Folio	9415
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Burridge

214

14 November 1919

John Templeton
Kathleen Ruth Strang

John Templeton
Kathleen Ruth Strang
💍 1919/9797

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Typiste

28
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 years
24 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill

9416

14 November 1919

Rev. J. T. Robertson

No	214
Date of Notice	14 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Templeton	Kathleen Ruth Strang
	💍 1919/9797
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Typiste
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill
Folio	9416
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Robertson

215

14 November 1919

Francis William Smith
Mary Affleck McKenzie

Francis William Smith
May Affleck McKenzie
💍 1919/9798

Bachelor
Spinster

Hardware Assistant
Clerk

29
27

Invercargill
Invercargill

20 years
27 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill

9417

14 November 1919

Rev. J. T. Robertson

No	215
Date of Notice	14 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis William Smith	Mary Affleck McKenzie
BDM Match (98%)	Francis William Smith	May Affleck McKenzie
	💍 1919/9798
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hardware Assistant	Clerk
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	20 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill
Folio	9417
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Robertson

216

17 November 1919

James McCallum Sellers
Edith Tomlins

James McCallum Sellars
Edith Tomlins
💍 1919/9799

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Domestic

21
18

Invercargill
Invercargill

21 years
18 years

Presbyterian Church, North Invercargill

9418

Edith Black mother formerly Tomlins; Edith Tomlins m. in marr

17 November 1919

Rev. J. Collie

No	216
Date of Notice	17 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McCallum Sellers	Edith Tomlins
BDM Match (98%)	James McCallum Sellars	Edith Tomlins
	💍 1919/9799
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Domestic
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	21 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, North Invercargill
Folio	9418
Consent	Edith Black mother formerly Tomlins; Edith Tomlins m. in marr
Date of Certificate	17 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Collie

217

18 November 1919

Michael John Phelan
Agnes Amy Lawrence

Michael Conn Phelan
Agnes Amy Lawrence
💍 1919/9801

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Domestic

28
19

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill

9419

Mary Jane Lawrence mother

18 November 1919

Rev. J. T. Robertson

No	217
Date of Notice	18 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael John Phelan	Agnes Amy Lawrence
BDM Match (95%)	Michael Conn Phelan	Agnes Amy Lawrence
	💍 1919/9801
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill
Folio	9419
Consent	Mary Jane Lawrence mother
Date of Certificate	18 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Robertson

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).