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 3220

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar H. G. 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

7 May 1919

William Stanley Goldthorp
Charlotte Strang

William Stanley Goldthorp
Charlotte Strong
💍 1919/4866

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Saleswoman

30
33

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
33 years

Residence of Mrs M. Strang, Invercargill

4097

7 May 1919

Rev. R. Morgan, Presbyterian

No	80
Date of Notice	7 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stanley Goldthorp	Charlotte Strang
BDM Match (97%)	William Stanley Goldthorp	Charlotte Strong
	💍 1919/4866
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Saleswoman
Age	30	33
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	33 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs M. Strang, Invercargill
Folio	4097
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Morgan, Presbyterian

7 May 1919

Thomas Forbes
Jessie Ann Marshall

Thomas Torbet
Jessie Ann Marshall
💍 1919/4867

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

31
26

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Floral Tea Rooms, Invercargill

4098

7 May 1919

Rev. J. Pringle, Presbyterian

No	81
Date of Notice	7 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Forbes	Jessie Ann Marshall
BDM Match (92%)	Thomas Torbet	Jessie Ann Marshall
	💍 1919/4867
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Floral Tea Rooms, Invercargill
Folio	4098
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Pringle, Presbyterian

9 May 1919

Ernest George Propsting
Marguerite Ann Gleaves

Ernest George Propsting
Margurite Ann Cleaver
💍 1919/4868

Divorced
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

41
20

Invercargill
Invercargill

12 months
20 years

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

4099

Mary Ann M. Gleaves, mother

9 May 1919

Registrar

No	82
Date of Notice	9 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest George Propsting	Marguerite Ann Gleaves
BDM Match (93%)	Ernest George Propsting	Margurite Ann Cleaver
	💍 1919/4868
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	41	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	12 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	4099
Consent	Mary Ann M. Gleaves, mother
Date of Certificate	9 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

9 May 1919

Robert Forrester
Leah Murdoch

Robert Forrester
Leah Murdoch
💍 1919/4869

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk
Postal Assistant

28
29

Invercargill
Invercargill

24 years
15 years

Presbyterian Church, Dee St, Invercargill

4100

9 May 1919

Rev. H. W. Burridge, Presbyterian

No	83
Date of Notice	9 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Forrester	Leah Murdoch
	💍 1919/4869
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk	Postal Assistant
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	24 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee St, Invercargill
Folio	4100
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Burridge, Presbyterian

12 May 1919

Arthur Fowler
Myrtle Annabella Werner

Arthur Fowler
Myrtle Annabella Wesney
💍 1919/4877

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant
House duties

24
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
22 years

Methodist Church, Leet St, Invercargill

4101

12 May 1919

Rev. A. Peters, Methodist

No	84
Date of Notice	12 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Fowler	Myrtle Annabella Werner
BDM Match (96%)	Arthur Fowler	Myrtle Annabella Wesney
	💍 1919/4877
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	House duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Leet St, Invercargill
Folio	4101
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Peters, Methodist

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).