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 3718

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar J. M. Kittries

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

29 January 1920

Edmund Mortimer
Elizabeth Gertrude McCulloch

Edmund Mortimer
Elizabeth Gertrude McCulloch
💍 1920/7951

Bachelor
Spinster

meat-grader
Domestic duties

30
23

Makarewa
Ryal Bush

12 years
23 years

Church of England at Ryal Bush

3037

29 January 1920

Rev. C. E. P. Webb, Church of England

No	26
Date of Notice	29 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Mortimer	Elizabeth Gertrude McCulloch
	💍 1920/7951
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	meat-grader	Domestic duties
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Makarewa	Ryal Bush
Length of Residence	12 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of England at Ryal Bush
Folio	3037
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. P. Webb, Church of England

2 February 1920

Sydney Rudolph Radka
Margaret Isabella Crosbie

Sydney Rudolph Radka
Margaret Isabella Crosbie
💍 1920/7952

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

24
18

Waikiwi
Invercargill

24 years
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Tay street, Invercargill

3038

John Crosbie (father)

2 February 1920

Rev. R. Inglis, Presbyterian

No	27
Date of Notice	2 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Rudolph Radka	Margaret Isabella Crosbie
	💍 1920/7952
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Waikiwi	Invercargill
Length of Residence	24 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay street, Invercargill
Folio	3038
Consent	John Crosbie (father)
Date of Certificate	2 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Inglis, Presbyterian

2 February 1920

Edward James Norman
Agnes Annie Miller

Edward James Norman
Agnes Annie Miller
💍 1920/7953

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

32
27

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 months
6 months

Presbyterian church, Tay street, Invercargill

3039

2 February 1920

Rev. R. Inglis, Presbyterian

No	28
Date of Notice	2 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward James Norman	Agnes Annie Miller
	💍 1920/7953
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian church, Tay street, Invercargill
Folio	3039
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Inglis, Presbyterian

2 February 1920

Arthur Allison Officer
Priscilla Annie Hazlett

Arthur Allison Officer
Priscilla Annie Hazlett
💍 1920/12356

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

29
35

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
2 years

Presbyterian church, Tay street, Invercargill

3040

2 February 1920

Rev. R. Inglis, Presbyterian

No	29
Date of Notice	2 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Allison Officer	Priscilla Annie Hazlett
	💍 1920/12356
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	35
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian church, Tay street, Invercargill
Folio	3040
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Inglis, Presbyterian

3 February 1920

James Newton Preston
Ethel Diana Fulford

James Newton Preston
Ethel Diana Fulford
💍 1920/7954

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

49
30

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Residence of Miss M J Preston, 217 Crinan street, Invercargill

3041

3 February 1920

Rev. H. Maclean, Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	3 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Newton Preston	Ethel Diana Fulford
	💍 1920/7954
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	49	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Miss M J Preston, 217 Crinan street, Invercargill
Folio	3041
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Maclean, 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).