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 3204

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar H. G. Pilcher

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

6 January 1919

Francis Steans
Alice Amelia Brookes

Francis Steans
Alice Amelia Brooks
💍 1919/3988

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Baker

25
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

25 years
20 years

English Church St John's Invercargill

1599

6 January 1919

Ven Archd Richards

No	6
Date of Notice	6 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Steans	Alice Amelia Brookes
BDM Match (98%)	Francis Steans	Alice Amelia Brooks
	💍 1919/3988
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Baker
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	25 years	20 years
Marriage Place	English Church St John's Invercargill
Folio	1599
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Ven Archd Richards

7 January 1919

William Ross
Lizzie Beatrice Jones

William Ross
Lizzie Beatress Jones
💍 1919/3989

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

26
30

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 years
28 years

Harry Barker's 25 George Street South Invercargill

1600

7 January 1919

Rev J. Collie

No	7
Date of Notice	7 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ross	Lizzie Beatrice Jones
BDM Match (93%)	William Ross	Lizzie Beatress Jones
	💍 1919/3989
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Harry Barker's 25 George Street South Invercargill
Folio	1600
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Collie

7 January 1919

William Blackler
Mary Peat

William Blackler
Mary Tait
💍 1919/1852

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill hand
Domestic

23
20

Ryal Bush
Ryal Bush

2 weeks
20 years

Robert Peat's house Ryal Bush

1601

Robert Peat, father

7 January 1919

Rev J. T. Ponder

No	8
Date of Notice	7 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Blackler	Mary Peat
BDM Match (83%)	William Blackler	Mary Tait
	💍 1919/1852
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill hand	Domestic
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Ryal Bush	Ryal Bush
Length of Residence	2 weeks	20 years
Marriage Place	Robert Peat's house Ryal Bush
Folio	1601
Consent	Robert Peat, father
Date of Certificate	7 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. T. Ponder

9 January 1919

Alexander Martin Shand
Annie Mackay

Alexander Martin Shand
Annie McKay
💍 1919/1863

Bachelor
Spinster

Representative Stockman
School teacher

36
39

Kennington
West Plains

20 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Church Forth Street Invercargill

1602

9 January 1919

Very Rev J. Burke

No	9
Date of Notice	9 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Martin Shand	Annie Mackay
BDM Match (92%)	Alexander Martin Shand	Annie McKay
	💍 1919/1863
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Representative Stockman	School teacher
Age	36	39
Dwelling Place	Kennington	West Plains
Length of Residence	20 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Forth Street Invercargill
Folio	1602
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Very Rev J. Burke

9 January 1919

Francis Henry Tuffery
Jane Lillian Warren

Francis Henry Tuffery
Jane Lillias Warren
💍 1919/1870

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Domestic

27
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

27 years
9 years

Methodist Church Elles Road Invercargill

1603

9 January 1919

Rev G. Clement

No	10
Date of Notice	9 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Henry Tuffery	Jane Lillian Warren
BDM Match (97%)	Francis Henry Tuffery	Jane Lillias Warren
	💍 1919/1870
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Domestic
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	27 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Elles Road Invercargill
Folio	1603
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev G. Clement

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).