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 3728

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar J. 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

19 March 1920

Richard Beveridge Cochrane
Constance Irene Newton

Richard Beveridge Cochrane
Constance Irene Newton
💍 1920/5454

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal-miner
Domestic duties

37
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

3085

19 March 1920

J. M. McKittrick, Deputy Registrar

No	76
Date of Notice	19 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Beveridge Cochrane	Constance Irene Newton
	💍 1920/5454
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal-miner	Domestic duties
Age	37	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	3085
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1920
Officiating Minister	J. M. McKittrick, Deputy Registrar

22 March 1920

Robert Blackwell Rose
Violet Ruby Neilson

Robert Blockwell Rose
Violet Ruby Neilson
💍 1920/5431

Widower
Spinster

Taxi Proprietor

29
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

29 years
1 year

Presbyterian Church, Elles Road, South Invercargill

3086

22 March 1920

Rev. E. Gardiner, Presbyterian

No	77
Date of Notice	22 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Blackwell Rose	Violet Ruby Neilson
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Blockwell Rose	Violet Ruby Neilson
	💍 1920/5431
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Taxi Proprietor
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	29 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Elles Road, South Invercargill
Folio	3086
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Gardiner, Presbyterian

25 March 1920

Samuel Lear
Annie Mackay

Samuel Lear
Annie Mackay
💍 1920/5432

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Officer
School teacher

33
26

Wyndham
Invercargill

1 year
26 years

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

3087

25 March 1920

J. G. Petrie, Registrar

No	78
Date of Notice	25 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Lear	Annie Mackay
	💍 1920/5432
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Officer	School teacher
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Wyndham	Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 year	26 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	3087
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1920
Officiating Minister	J. G. Petrie, Registrar

25 March 1920

William Mackay
Jessie Mackay

William Mackay
Jessie Mackay
💍 1920/5433

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

56
56

Wrights Bush
Wrights Bush

3 months
25 years

Residence of Mrs McTaggart, Esk Street, Invercargill

3088

25 March 1920

H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	79
Date of Notice	25 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Mackay	Jessie Mackay
	💍 1920/5433
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	56	56
Dwelling Place	Wrights Bush	Wrights Bush
Length of Residence	3 months	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs McTaggart, Esk Street, Invercargill
Folio	3088
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1920
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

26 March 1920

Michael O'Neill
Mary Selina Allan

Michael O'Neill
Mary Selma Allan
💍 1920/5434

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxi Proprietor
Nurse

44
34

Invercargill
Invercargill

44 years
3 months

Roman Catholic Church, Leet Street, Invercargill

3089

26 March 1920

Very Rev. W. Burke, Roman Catholic

No	80
Date of Notice	26 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael O'Neill	Mary Selina Allan
BDM Match (94%)	Michael O'Neill	Mary Selma Allan
	💍 1920/5434
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxi Proprietor	Nurse
Age	44	34
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	44 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Leet Street, Invercargill
Folio	3089
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. W. Burke, Roman Catholic

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).