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 3228

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar F. G. Pelme

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

119

15 July 1919

Charles Henry Voight
Floricina Emily Ruth Church

Charles Ferny Voight
Horaeina Emily Ruth Church
💍 1919/6899

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic

31
19

Invercargill
Invercargill

1 day
1 day

English Church, Invercargill

6426

Emily Church, mother

15 July 1919

Rev. H. Parata, Episcopalian

No	119
Date of Notice	15 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Voight	Floricina Emily Ruth Church
BDM Match (85%)	Charles Ferny Voight	Horaeina Emily Ruth Church
	💍 1919/6899
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic
Age	31	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 day	1 day
Marriage Place	English Church, Invercargill
Folio	6426
Consent	Emily Church, mother
Date of Certificate	15 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Parata, Episcopalian

120

15 July 1919

Leonard William Hemmings
Mabel Agnes Wright

Leonard William Hemmings
Mabel Agnes Wright
💍 1919/6910

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachman
Nurse

28
34

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 months
14 years

Presbyterian Church, Dee St, Invercargill

6427

15 July 1919

Rev. H. W. Burridge, Presbyterian

No	120
Date of Notice	15 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard William Hemmings	Mabel Agnes Wright
	💍 1919/6910
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachman	Nurse
Age	28	34
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 months	14 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee St, Invercargill
Folio	6427
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Burridge, Presbyterian

121

15 July 1919

Alfred John Pratt
Mary Ann Tomlins

Alfred John Pratt
Mary Ann Tomlins
💍 1919/6916

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

39
28

Invercargill
Invercargill

34 years
28 years

Presbyterian Church, Dee St, Invercargill

6428

15 July 1919

Rev. J. Collie, Presbyterian

No	121
Date of Notice	15 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Pratt	Mary Ann Tomlins
	💍 1919/6916
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	39	28
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	34 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee St, Invercargill
Folio	6428
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Collie, Presbyterian

122

15 July 1919

John Prendergast
Esther Mary Lyon

John Prendergast
Esther Mary Lyons
💍 1919/6917

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Domestic

23
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

23 years
24 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne St, Invercargill

6429

15 July 1919

Rev. H. J. Woods, Roman Catholic

No	122
Date of Notice	15 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Prendergast	Esther Mary Lyon
BDM Match (97%)	John Prendergast	Esther Mary Lyons
	💍 1919/6917
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Domestic
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	23 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne St, Invercargill
Folio	6429
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Woods, Roman Catholic

123

16 July 1919

John Mackie
Mary Beatrice McDonald

John MacKie
Mary Beatrice McDonald
💍 1919/6918

Widower 7-12-17
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

40
31

Lochiel
Lochiel

12 years
one year

Presbyterian Church, Dee St, Invercargill

6430

16 July 1919

Rev. H. W. Burridge, Presbyterian

No	123
Date of Notice	16 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Mackie	Mary Beatrice McDonald
BDM Match (95%)	John MacKie	Mary Beatrice McDonald
	💍 1919/6918
Condition	Widower 7-12-17	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	40	31
Dwelling Place	Lochiel	Lochiel
Length of Residence	12 years	one year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee St, Invercargill
Folio	6430
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Burridge, 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).