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 3766

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 1920 Registrar F. 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

263

13 October 1920

Robert Stevenson Brookland
Alice Beatrice Rissett

Robert Stevenson Brookland
Alice Beatrice Bissett
💍 1920/9834

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Domestic

21
23

Makarewa
Makarewa

21 years
2 years

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

11999

13 October 1920

Registrar

No	263
Date of Notice	13 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Stevenson Brookland	Alice Beatrice Rissett
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Stevenson Brookland	Alice Beatrice Bissett
	💍 1920/9834
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Makarewa	Makarewa
Length of Residence	21 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	11999
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

264

13 October 1920

Stanley Gibson Mitchell
Mabel Henrietta Melville Allan

Stanley Gibson Mitchell
Mabel Henrietta Melville Allan
💍 1920/9835

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Dressmaker

25
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

25 years
10 years

Residence of Mr Moss, O'Hara St, Invercargill

12000

13 October 1920

Rev. E. Gardiner, Presbyterian

No	264
Date of Notice	13 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Gibson Mitchell	Mabel Henrietta Melville Allan
	💍 1920/9835
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Dressmaker
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	25 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Moss, O'Hara St, Invercargill
Folio	12000
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Gardiner, Presbyterian

265

14 October 1920

Stephen Valentine Reade
Helen Marshall Donaldson

St John Valentine Beadle
Helen Marshall Donaldson
💍 1920/9844

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
27

Invercargill
Invercargill

6 years
4 weeks

Residence of Rev. H. G. Gilbert, 16 Elles Road, Invercargill

12001

14 October 1920

Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	265
Date of Notice	14 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Valentine Reade	Helen Marshall Donaldson
BDM Match (88%)	St John Valentine Beadle	Helen Marshall Donaldson
	💍 1920/9844
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 years	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. H. G. Gilbert, 16 Elles Road, Invercargill
Folio	12001
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

266

19 October 1920

John Harold Matterson
Una Gladys Ashley

John Harold Mattison
Urie Gladys Ashley
💍 1920/9855

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Saleswoman

30
26

Invercargill
Invercargill

7 years
26 years

Residence of H. G. Ashley, 16 Elles Road, Invercargill

12002

19 October 1920

Rev. J. Carlisle, Baptist

No	266
Date of Notice	19 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Harold Matterson	Una Gladys Ashley
BDM Match (87%)	John Harold Mattison	Urie Gladys Ashley
	💍 1920/9855
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Saleswoman
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of H. G. Ashley, 16 Elles Road, Invercargill
Folio	12002
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Carlisle, Baptist

267

19 October 1920

Joseph John Beadle
Ethel Ida Atkinson

Joseph John Blacke
Ethel Isa Atkinson
💍 1920/9862

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

38
23

Invercargill
Invercargill

20 years
7 years

Residence of William Atkinson, 83 McMaster St, Invercargill

12003

19 October 1920

Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	267
Date of Notice	19 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph John Beadle	Ethel Ida Atkinson
BDM Match (89%)	Joseph John Blacke	Ethel Isa Atkinson
	💍 1920/9862
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	38	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	20 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Atkinson, 83 McMaster St, Invercargill
Folio	12003
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

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).