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 3214

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

8 April 1919

Alexander Cartwright McGraw
Marjorie Gertrude Field

Alexander Cartwright McCaw
Marjorie Gertrude Field
💍 1919/4833

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24
25

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
18 years

English Church Gladstone Invercargill

4055

8 April 1919

Rev. S. H. D. Peryman, Clinton

No	50
Date of Notice	8 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Cartwright McGraw	Marjorie Gertrude Field
BDM Match (96%)	Alexander Cartwright McCaw	Marjorie Gertrude Field
	💍 1919/4833
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	18 years
Marriage Place	English Church Gladstone Invercargill
Folio	4055
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. H. D. Peryman, Clinton

9 April 1919

James Norman Lewis
Florence Evelyn Frances Corner

James Norman Lewis
Frances Evelyn Corner
💍 1919/4834

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic

22
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

22 years
5 years

Residence of Mr J. Lewis Waikiwi Invercargill

4056

9 April 1919

Rev. J. Robertson

No	51
Date of Notice	9 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Norman Lewis	Florence Evelyn Frances Corner
BDM Match (80%)	James Norman Lewis	Frances Evelyn Corner
	💍 1919/4834
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	22 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. Lewis Waikiwi Invercargill
Folio	4056
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Robertson

11 April 1919

Richard Horner
Sarah Gibson

Richard Korner
Sarah Gibson
💍 1919/4835

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Housekeeper

30
30

Invercargill
Invercargill

12 years
18 years

Residence of Mr William Gibson 169 Eye St Invercargill

4057

11 April 1919

Rev. E. Bissett

No	52
Date of Notice	11 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Horner	Sarah Gibson
BDM Match (96%)	Richard Korner	Sarah Gibson
	💍 1919/4835
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Housekeeper
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	12 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr William Gibson 169 Eye St Invercargill
Folio	4057
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Bissett

11 April 1919

William Gardiner Slade
Mary Elizabeth Wilhelmena Faulkner

William Gardner Slade
Mary Elizabeth Wilhelmina Faulkner
💍 1919/4962

Bachelor
Spinster

Methodist Minister
Domestic duties

26
23

Invercargill
Willowbridge Waimate

1 year
10 years

Methodist Church Nukuroa Waimate

4194

11 April 1919

Rev. A. V. G. Chandler

No	53
Date of Notice	11 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gardiner Slade	Mary Elizabeth Wilhelmena Faulkner
BDM Match (96%)	William Gardner Slade	Mary Elizabeth Wilhelmina Faulkner
	💍 1919/4962
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Methodist Minister	Domestic duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Willowbridge Waimate
Length of Residence	1 year	10 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Nukuroa Waimate
Folio	4194
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. V. G. Chandler

15 April 1919

John Thomas May
Henrietta Reid Irwin

John Thomas May
Henrietta Reid Irwin
💍 1919/4919

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

42
26

Thomsons Crossing Lochiel
Lochiel

42 years
26 years

Residence of Mr Robert Irwin Lochiel Invercargill

4150

15 April 1919

Rev. A. McNeur

No	54
Date of Notice	15 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas May	Henrietta Reid Irwin
	💍 1919/4919
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	42	26
Dwelling Place	Thomsons Crossing Lochiel	Lochiel
Length of Residence	42 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Robert Irwin Lochiel Invercargill
Folio	4150
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. McNeur

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).