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 3208

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar F. G. Blee

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

25 February 1919

Clarence Rogers
Lily Ellen Ann Boal

Clarence Rogers
Lucy Ellen Ann Soar
💍 1919/1862

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor's Chainman
Teacher

24
21

Makarewa
Makarewa

3 days
3 days

English Church, Invercargill

1619

25 February 1919

Ven. Archdeacon Richards, Anglican

No	26
Date of Notice	25 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Rogers	Lily Ellen Ann Boal
BDM Match (89%)	Clarence Rogers	Lucy Ellen Ann Soar
	💍 1919/1862
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor's Chainman	Teacher
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Makarewa	Makarewa
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	English Church, Invercargill
Folio	1619
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon Richards, Anglican

14 March 1919

Fred Rogers
Mary Ethel Smith

Fred Rogers
Mary Ethel Smith
💍 1919/1864

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Dressmaker

26
24

Otara, Invercargill
Invercargill

2 years
3 days

Presbyterian Church, St Pauls, Invercargill

1620

14 March 1919

Rev. H. W. Burridge, Presbyterian

No	27
Date of Notice	14 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred Rogers	Mary Ethel Smith
	💍 1919/1864
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Otara, Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, St Pauls, Invercargill
Folio	1620
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Burridge, Presbyterian

3 March 1919

James Newcastle
Evelyn Charlotte Blackman

James Rewcastle
Evelyn Charlotte Blackmore
💍 1919/1865

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Shop Assistant

30
23

Makarewa
Invercargill

15 years
13 years

Methodist Church, Don Street, Invercargill

1621

3 March 1919

Rev. W. G. Slade, Methodist

No	28
Date of Notice	3 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Newcastle	Evelyn Charlotte Blackman
BDM Match (91%)	James Rewcastle	Evelyn Charlotte Blackmore
	💍 1919/1865
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Shop Assistant
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Makarewa	Invercargill
Length of Residence	15 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Don Street, Invercargill
Folio	1621
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Slade, Methodist

4 March 1919

John Smith
Catherine Munro Mitchell

John Smith
Catherine Murray Mitchell
💍 1919/1866

Widower
Spinster

Tailor
Tailoress

42
46

Invercargill
Invercargill

18 years
40 years

Residence of Mr. J. Collie, Forth Street, Invercargill

1622

4 March 1919

Rev. J. Collie, Presbyterian

No	29
Date of Notice	4 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Smith	Catherine Munro Mitchell
BDM Match (94%)	John Smith	Catherine Murray Mitchell
	💍 1919/1866
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Tailoress
Age	42	46
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	18 years	40 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Collie, Forth Street, Invercargill
Folio	1622
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Collie, Presbyterian

5 March 1919

Denis Daley
Margaret McBeth

Denis Daley
Margaret McBeth
💍 1919/1867

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24
30

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

1623

5 March 1919

Registrar

No	30
Date of Notice	5 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Denis Daley	Margaret McBeth
	💍 1919/1867
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	1623
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 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).