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 3744

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1920 Registrar F. G. Peters

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

154

7 June 1920

Charles Edward Foote
Mary Frances Kelly

Charles Edward Foote
Mary Frances Kelly
💍 1920/6789

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill-hand
Domestic

29
19

Rimu
Rimu

8 days
19 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

6288

Elizabeth Kelly, mother

8 June 1920

Rev. J. R. Robinson, Presbyterian

No	154
Date of Notice	7 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Foote	Mary Frances Kelly
	💍 1920/6789
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill-hand	Domestic
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Rimu	Rimu
Length of Residence	8 days	19 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	6288
Consent	Elizabeth Kelly, mother
Date of Certificate	8 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Robinson, Presbyterian

155

10 June 1920

William Stoddart Wilson
Jessie Brooks Edward

William Stoddart Wilson
Jessie Brodie Gerrard
💍 1920/6790

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic

33
37

Invercargill
Invercargill

8 years
3 weeks

Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

6289

10 June 1920

Rev. J. R. Robinson, Presbyterian

No	155
Date of Notice	10 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stoddart Wilson	Jessie Brooks Edward
BDM Match (83%)	William Stoddart Wilson	Jessie Brodie Gerrard
	💍 1920/6790
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic
Age	33	37
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	8 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	6289
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Robinson, Presbyterian

156

10 June 1920

Robert Grieve
Dorothy Sarah Cartwright

Robert Grieve
Dorothy Sarah Cartwright
💍 1920/6791

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic

22
18

Waikivi
Invercargill

18 years
11 years

Bride's parents' residence, 229 Ettrick Street, Invercargill

6290

George Cartwright, father

10 June 1920

Rev. F. A. Sharp, Methodist

No	156
Date of Notice	10 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Grieve	Dorothy Sarah Cartwright
	💍 1920/6791
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Waikivi	Invercargill
Length of Residence	18 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Bride's parents' residence, 229 Ettrick Street, Invercargill
Folio	6290
Consent	George Cartwright, father
Date of Certificate	10 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. A. Sharp, Methodist

157

12 June 1920

Gilbert Young Congreve
Nellie Deeve

Gilbert Young Congreve
Nellie Dewe
💍 1920/6792

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Housekeeper

23
21

Woodlands
Woodlands

7 years
21 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

6291

12 June 1920

Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	157
Date of Notice	12 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Young Congreve	Nellie Deeve
BDM Match (92%)	Gilbert Young Congreve	Nellie Dewe
	💍 1920/6792
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Housekeeper
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Woodlands	Woodlands
Length of Residence	7 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	6291
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

158

16 June 1920

Richard Douglas Newth
Oless Mary Field

Richard Douglas Newth
Olive Marie Field
💍 1920/6793

Bachelor
Spinster

Local Deputy Public Service
Domestic duties

29
23

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 years
20 years

English Church, Gladstone, Invercargill

6292

16 June 1920

Rev. G. Fynes-Clinton, Church of England

No	158
Date of Notice	16 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Douglas Newth	Oless Mary Field
BDM Match (85%)	Richard Douglas Newth	Olive Marie Field
	💍 1920/6793
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Local Deputy Public Service	Domestic duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Gladstone, Invercargill
Folio	6292
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. 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).