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 3224

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar F. J. Wilkes

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

100

4 June 1919

Charles Morgan Lewis
Eileen Mary Holloway

Charles Morgan Lewis
Eileen Mary Holloway
💍 1919/4815

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Draper
Domestic

51
20

Invercargill
Bluff

30 years
8 years

Roman Catholic Church, Bluff

4048

4 June 1919

Dean Burke

No	100
Date of Notice	4 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Morgan Lewis	Eileen Mary Holloway
	💍 1919/4815
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Draper	Domestic
Age	51	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Bluff
Length of Residence	30 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Bluff
Folio	4048
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Dean Burke

101

6 June 1919

Arnold Challis James
Edith Marion Galbraith

Arnold Challis James
Edith Marion Galbraith
💍 1919/4885

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic duties

28
33

Invercargill
Invercargill

28 years
33 years

Residence of Edith Galbraith, 11 Baird St, Invercargill

4117

6 June 1919

Rev. H. H. Burridge

No	101
Date of Notice	6 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arnold Challis James	Edith Marion Galbraith
	💍 1919/4885
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	28	33
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	28 years	33 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Edith Galbraith, 11 Baird St, Invercargill
Folio	4117
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. H. Burridge

102

9 June 1919

John Nicholas Kissell
Florence Mary Brown Scott

John Nicholas Kissell
Florence May Brown Scott
💍 1919/4886

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

30
30

Invercargill
Richmond Grove

30 years
4 years

Residence of Mrs. Pyper, Richmond Grove, Invercargill

4118

9 June 1919

Rev. J. Collie

No	102
Date of Notice	9 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Nicholas Kissell	Florence Mary Brown Scott
BDM Match (98%)	John Nicholas Kissell	Florence May Brown Scott
	💍 1919/4886
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Richmond Grove
Length of Residence	30 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Pyper, Richmond Grove, Invercargill
Folio	4118
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Collie

103

11 June 1919

Frederick William Philpott
Grace Thams

Frederick William Philpott
Gracie Mann
💍 1919/4887

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

33
23

Invercargill
Makarewa

3 days
23 years

English Church, Tay St, Invercargill

4119

11 June 1919

Ven. Archdn Richards

No	103
Date of Notice	11 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Philpott	Grace Thams
BDM Match (77%)	Frederick William Philpott	Gracie Mann
	💍 1919/4887
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Makarewa
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay St, Invercargill
Folio	4119
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdn Richards

104

11 June 1919

Archibald Allison Johnston
Clara Taylor

Archibald Allison Johnstone
Clara Taylor
💍 1919/4889

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

34
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
1 week

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

4120

11 June 1919

Registrar

No	104
Date of Notice	11 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Allison Johnston	Clara Taylor
BDM Match (98%)	Archibald Allison Johnstone	Clara Taylor
	💍 1919/4889
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	1 week
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	4120
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).