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 3748

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar F. 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

173

6 July 1920

James Kirkpatrick Todd
Mary Allan

James Kirkpatrick Toll
Mary Allan
💍 1920/9115

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

28
20

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 days
1 day

Presbyterian Church, First Church, Invercargill

9091

6 July 1920

Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	173
Date of Notice	6 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Kirkpatrick Todd	Mary Allan
BDM Match (95%)	James Kirkpatrick Toll	Mary Allan
	💍 1920/9115
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 days	1 day
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, First Church, Invercargill
Folio	9091
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

174

6 July 1920

Martin Phillip Maley
Mayora McLean Baxter

Martin Phillip Maley
Marjorie McLean Baxter
💍 1920/9116

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Domestic

21
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church, First Church, Invercargill

9092

6 July 1920

Rev. J. Rough, Presbyterian

No	174
Date of Notice	6 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Phillip Maley	Mayora McLean Baxter
BDM Match (91%)	Martin Phillip Maley	Marjorie McLean Baxter
	💍 1920/9116
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Domestic
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, First Church, Invercargill
Folio	9092
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Rough, Presbyterian

175

7 July 1920

James Templeton
Letticia Ruth Wilson

James Templeton
Letticia Ruth Wilson
💍 1920/9118

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

36
30

Invercargill
Taramoa

4 days
30 years

Presbyterian Church, North Invercargill

9093

7 July 1920

Rev. J. Collie, Presbyterian

No	175
Date of Notice	7 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Templeton	Letticia Ruth Wilson
	💍 1920/9118
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Taramoa
Length of Residence	4 days	30 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, North Invercargill
Folio	9093
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Collie, Presbyterian

176

7 July 1920

William Peter Fennell
Nora Finnerty

William Peter Fennell
Nora Finnerty
💍 1920/9119

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

27
22

Waimatua
Waimatua

3 days
1 month

Roman Catholic Church, St Mary's, Invercargill

9094

7 July 1920

Very Rev. W. Burke, Roman Catholic

No	176
Date of Notice	7 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Peter Fennell	Nora Finnerty
	💍 1920/9119
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Waimatua	Waimatua
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, St Mary's, Invercargill
Folio	9094
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. W. Burke, Roman Catholic

177

7 July 1920

Fred Simon Leete
Lyla Brown

Fred Simeon Leete
Lyla Brown
💍 1920/9120

Bachelor
Spinster

Vulcaniser
Dressmaker

26
25

Invercargill
Invercargill

25 years
9 years

Presbyterian Church, First Church, Invercargill

9095

7 July 1920

Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	177
Date of Notice	7 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred Simon Leete	Lyla Brown
BDM Match (97%)	Fred Simeon Leete	Lyla Brown
	💍 1920/9120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Vulcaniser	Dressmaker
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	25 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, First Church, Invercargill
Folio	9095
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 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).