Intentions to Marry, 1920 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840495, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1920 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1920h contains pages 3441-3864, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 3749

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar T. 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

178

8 July 1920

Archibald Brown MacDonell
Jane Galt

Archibald Brown MacDougall
Jane Galt
💍 1920/9121

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger
Domestic

32
28

Invercargill
Invercargill

7 years
1 year

Presbyterian Church, Dee St, Invercargill

9096

8 July 1920

H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	178
Date of Notice	8 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Brown MacDonell	Jane Galt
BDM Match (94%)	Archibald Brown MacDougall	Jane Galt
	💍 1920/9121
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger	Domestic
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee St, Invercargill
Folio	9096
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1920
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

179

10 July 1920

Alexander Adamson
Isabelle Margaret Clark

Alexander Adamson
Isabella Margaret Clark
💍 1920/9122

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Domestic

25
22

Gropes Bush
Ryal Bush

22 years
22 years

Presbyterian Church, Dee St, Invercargill

9097

10 July 1920

H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	179
Date of Notice	10 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Adamson	Isabelle Margaret Clark
BDM Match (98%)	Alexander Adamson	Isabella Margaret Clark
	💍 1920/9122
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Domestic
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Gropes Bush	Ryal Bush
Length of Residence	22 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee St, Invercargill
Folio	9097
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1920
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

180

12 July 1920

Samuel Jack Hawkins
Emily Wilhelmena Peters

Samuel Jack Hawkins
Emily Wilhelmena Peters
💍 1920/9123

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

28
27

One Tree Point
One Tree Point

4 days
10 years

Methodist Church, Don St, Invercargill

9098

12 July 1920

H. A. Sharp, Methodist

No	180
Date of Notice	12 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Jack Hawkins	Emily Wilhelmena Peters
	💍 1920/9123
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	One Tree Point	One Tree Point
Length of Residence	4 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Don St, Invercargill
Folio	9098
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1920
Officiating Minister	H. A. Sharp, Methodist

181

13 July 1920

Christopher Noel Luttrell
Phyllis Muriel Galt

Christopher Noel Luker
Phyllis Muriel Gaut
💍 1920/9057

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

34
22

Invercargill
Waianiwa

3 days
one month

Presbyterian Church, North Invercargill

9099

13 July 1920

J. R. Robinson, Presbyterian

No	181
Date of Notice	13 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christopher Noel Luttrell	Phyllis Muriel Galt
BDM Match (87%)	Christopher Noel Luker	Phyllis Muriel Gaut
	💍 1920/9057
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Waianiwa
Length of Residence	3 days	one month
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, North Invercargill
Folio	9099
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1920
Officiating Minister	J. R. Robinson, Presbyterian

182

14 July 1920

William Henry Wheeler
Emily Louisa Shead

William Henry Wheeler
Emily Louisa Shead
💍 1920/9068

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

36
20

Invercargill
Makarewa

6 years
3 years

Church of St Andrew, Gladstone, Invercargill

9100

Christopher Shead, Father

14 July 1920

G. Fynes-Clinton, Church of England

No	182
Date of Notice	14 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Wheeler	Emily Louisa Shead
	💍 1920/9068
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	36	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Makarewa
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of St Andrew, Gladstone, Invercargill
Folio	9100
Consent	Christopher Shead, Father
Date of Certificate	14 July 1920
Officiating Minister	G. Fynes-Clinton, Church of England

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).