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 3724

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar James Kittric

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

2 March 1920

Frank Rosendale Rose
Helen Christina Anderson

Frank Rosendale Rose
Helena Christina Anderson
💍 1920/3889

Bachelor
Spinster

school-teacher

21
26

Clifton
Invercargill

1 year
4 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, South Invercargill

3066

2 March 1920

Rev. E. Gardiner, Presbyterian

No	56
Date of Notice	2 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Rosendale Rose	Helen Christina Anderson
BDM Match (98%)	Frank Rosendale Rose	Helena Christina Anderson
	💍 1920/3889
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	school-teacher
Age	21	26
Dwelling Place	Clifton	Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 year	4 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, South Invercargill
Folio	3066
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Gardiner, Presbyterian

2 March 1920

William Herbert Farley
Elsie Gertrude Ayling

William Herbert Farley
Elsie Gertrude Ayling
💍 1920/3890

Widower 31.10.1917
Spinster

Civil Servant
Saleswoman

29
26

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 years
9 years

Residence of Brides parents, 270 Ettrick Street, Invercargill

3067

2 March 1920

Rev. J. Field, Methodist

No	57
Date of Notice	2 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Herbert Farley	Elsie Gertrude Ayling
	💍 1920/3890
Condition	Widower 31.10.1917	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	Saleswoman
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Brides parents, 270 Ettrick Street, Invercargill
Folio	3067
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Field, Methodist

2 March 1920

William Henry Goodall
Elspeth Isabel Martha Hume

William Henry Goodall
Elspeth Isabel Martha Hume
💍 1920/3891

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory-hand

20
18

Wallacetown
Wallacetown

4 years
7 years

Residence of Brides parents, Wallacetown

3068

Leonard William Goodall (father), Walter Hume (father)

2 March 1920

Rev. J. S. Ponder, Presbyterian

No	58
Date of Notice	2 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Goodall	Elspeth Isabel Martha Hume
	💍 1920/3891
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory-hand
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Wallacetown	Wallacetown
Length of Residence	4 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Brides parents, Wallacetown
Folio	3068
Consent	Leonard William Goodall (father), Walter Hume (father)
Date of Certificate	2 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Ponder, Presbyterian

2 March 1920

Henry Wilson Johnston
Wilhelmina McKenzie

Henry Wilson Johnston
Wilhelmina McKenzie
💍 1920/3892

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
26

Invercargill
Waimatuku

3 days
2 weeks

St Pauls Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

3069

2 March 1920

Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	59
Date of Notice	2 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Wilson Johnston	Wilhelmina McKenzie
	💍 1920/3892
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Waimatuku
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St Pauls Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	3069
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

2 March 1920

Arthur Alexander Donaldson
Ivy Beatrice Boyce

Arthur Alexander Donaldson
Ivy Beatrice Boyce
💍 1920/8

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Dressmaker

28
30

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
30 years

St Johns Church of England, Esk Street, Invercargill

3070

2 March 1920

Canon G. Fynes-Clinton, Church of England

No	60
Date of Notice	2 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Alexander Donaldson	Ivy Beatrice Boyce
	💍 1920/8
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Dressmaker
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church of England, Esk Street, Invercargill
Folio	3070
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Canon 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).