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 3714

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar J. 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

9 January 1920

Bernard Ferry
Isabel Hurley

Bernard Ferry
Isabel Hurley
💍 1920/3866

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor's Cutter
Tailoress

29
35

Invercargill
Invercargill

20 years
35 years

Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill

3017

12 January 1920

Rev. W. Burke, Roman Catholic

No	6
Date of Notice	9 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard Ferry	Isabel Hurley
	💍 1920/3866
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor's Cutter	Tailoress
Age	29	35
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	20 years	35 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill
Folio	3017
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Burke, Roman Catholic

10 January 1920

John James Caulfield
Margaret Anderson Herbert

John James Caulfield
Margaret Anderson Herbert
💍 1920/3867

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Domestic

34
26

Erne Ridge
Grove Bush, Waitohi

34 years
4 years

Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill

3018

10 January 1920

Rev. J. O'Neill, Roman Catholic

No	7
Date of Notice	10 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Caulfield	Margaret Anderson Herbert
	💍 1920/3867
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Erne Ridge	Grove Bush, Waitohi
Length of Residence	34 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill
Folio	3018
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Neill, Roman Catholic

12 January 1920

Walter Eric Tomkins
Constance Isabella Finn

Walter Eric Tomkins
Constance Isabella Finn
💍 1920/3868

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Shop Assistant

22
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
8 days

Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill

3019

12 January 1920

Rev. H. Robinson, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	12 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Eric Tomkins	Constance Isabella Finn
	💍 1920/3868
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Shop Assistant
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	8 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay St, Invercargill
Folio	3019
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Robinson, Presbyterian

12 January 1920

William Lothian Martin Elder
Maud Nixon

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

27
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 months
24 years

Presbyterian Church, South Invercargill

3020

12 January 1920

Rev. Gardner, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	12 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Lothian Martin Elder	Maud Nixon
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 months	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, South Invercargill
Folio	3020
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Gardner, Presbyterian

12 January 1920

Michael Scully
Alice Ethel Harney

Michael Scully
Alice Ethel Keaney
💍 1920/3871

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk
Telegraph Clerk

34
32

Invercargill
Invercargill

34 years
12 years

Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill

3021

12 January 1920

Rev. W. Burke, Roman Catholic

No	10
Date of Notice	12 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Scully	Alice Ethel Harney
BDM Match (92%)	Michael Scully	Alice Ethel Keaney
	💍 1920/3871
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk	Telegraph Clerk
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	34 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill
Folio	3021
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1920
Officiating Minister	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).