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 3218

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

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

26 April 1919

James Henry Williamson
Constance Mary Port

James Henry Williamson
Constance Mary Pert
💍 1919/4855

Widower 19-10-09
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

28
30

Ryall Bush
Ryall Bush

14 years
30 years

Registrar's office, Invercargill

4037

26 April 1919

Registrar

No	70
Date of Notice	26 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Williamson	Constance Mary Port
BDM Match (97%)	James Henry Williamson	Constance Mary Pert
	💍 1919/4855
Condition	Widower 19-10-09	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Ryall Bush	Ryall Bush
Length of Residence	14 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's office, Invercargill
Folio	4037
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

28 April 1919

Arthur Edwin Butt
Edith May Rabbidge

Arthur Edwin Batt
Edith Mary Rabbidge
💍 1919/4856

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
School teacher

26
28

Invercargill
Invercargill

26 years
28 years

Residence of James Rabbidge, 38 Elles Road, Invercargill

4038

28 April 1919

Rev. E. Rinett

No	71
Date of Notice	28 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edwin Butt	Edith May Rabbidge
BDM Match (94%)	Arthur Edwin Batt	Edith Mary Rabbidge
	💍 1919/4856
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	School teacher
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	26 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of James Rabbidge, 38 Elles Road, Invercargill
Folio	4038
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Rinett

28 April 1919

Jack McCullough
Mona Marguarita Cavanagh

Jack McCullough
Mona Marquirita Cavanagh
💍 1919/4857

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Clerk

24
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

6 years
24 years

Residence of Mrs T. A. Lindsay, 28 Elles Road, Invercargill

4039

28 April 1919

Rev. H. N. Woods

No	72
Date of Notice	28 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jack McCullough	Mona Marguarita Cavanagh
BDM Match (96%)	Jack McCullough	Mona Marquirita Cavanagh
	💍 1919/4857
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Clerk
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs T. A. Lindsay, 28 Elles Road, Invercargill
Folio	4039
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Woods

28 April 1919

Robert Walker Stevenson
Janet Walker

Robert Walker Stevenson
Jenat Walker
💍 1919/4858

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

30
30

Oteramika
Woodlands

30 years
31 years

Residence of Mr B. Anderson, Woodlands, Invercargill

4090

28 April 1919

Rev. W. Wedderspoon

No	73
Date of Notice	28 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Walker Stevenson	Janet Walker
BDM Match (92%)	Robert Walker Stevenson	Jenat Walker
	💍 1919/4858
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Oteramika	Woodlands
Length of Residence	30 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr B. Anderson, Woodlands, Invercargill
Folio	4090
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Wedderspoon

28 April 1919

Leslie Watson Keiller
Rosemary McDonald

Leslie Watson Keiller
Rosemary McDonald
💍 1919/4859

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Domestic

23
23

Invercargill
Invercargill

10 years
2 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill

4091

28 April 1919

Rev. E. Rinett

No	74
Date of Notice	28 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Watson Keiller	Rosemary McDonald
	💍 1919/4859
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	10 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill
Folio	4091
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Rinett

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).