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 3222

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar F. W. Pilditch

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

20 May 1919

Thomas Laffey
Catherine Messent

Thomas Laffey
Catherine Messent
💍 1919/4899

Bachelor
Widow

Barman
Hotel Keeper

22
34

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Church St Marys Invercargill

4107

20 May 1919

Rev. H. J. Woods

No	90
Date of Notice	20 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Laffey	Catherine Messent
	💍 1919/4899
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Barman	Hotel Keeper
Age	22	34
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church St Marys Invercargill
Folio	4107
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Woods

21 May 1919

John Nelson Abercrombie
Jessie Campbell Lawson

John Nelson Abercrombie
Jessie Campbell Lawson
💍 1919/4900

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Mechanical Dentist

30
28

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
25 years

Registrar's Office Invercargill

4108

24 May 1919

Registrar

No	91
Date of Notice	21 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Nelson Abercrombie	Jessie Campbell Lawson
	💍 1919/4900
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Mechanical Dentist
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Invercargill
Folio	4108
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

21 May 1919

James George Charles Peter
Isabella Miller Millar

James George Charles Baker
Isabella Millar
💍 1919/4901

Bachelor
Spinster

County Engineer
Domestic

38
29

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
29 years

Residence of Mrs C. Miller 73 Bowmont St Invercargill

4109

21 May 1919

Rev. Tho. Burnage

No	92
Date of Notice	21 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James George Charles Peter	Isabella Miller Millar
BDM Match (78%)	James George Charles Baker	Isabella Millar
	💍 1919/4901
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	County Engineer	Domestic
Age	38	29
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	29 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs C. Miller 73 Bowmont St Invercargill
Folio	4109
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Tho. Burnage

23 May 1919

Henry Finn
Violet Adeline Paul

Henry Finn
Violet Adelene Baner
💍 1919/4878

Widower
Widow

Farmer
Housekeeper

47
41

Invercargill
Invercargill

7 days
7 days

Presbyterian Church North Rd Invercargill

4110

23 May 1919

Rev. J. Collie

No	93
Date of Notice	23 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Finn	Violet Adeline Paul
BDM Match (88%)	Henry Finn	Violet Adelene Baner
	💍 1919/4878
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	47	41
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church North Rd Invercargill
Folio	4110
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Collie

31 May 1919

George Stanley Perry
Elsie Ellen Thomson

George Stanley Perry
Elsie Ellen Thomson
💍 1919/4879

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Dressmaker

25
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

6 years
21 years

Presbyterian Church Tweed Street Invercargill

4111

31 May 1919

Rev. E. Bissett

No	94
Date of Notice	31 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Stanley Perry	Elsie Ellen Thomson
	💍 1919/4879
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Dressmaker
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Tweed Street Invercargill
Folio	4111
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Bissett

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).