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 3716

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar J. McKittrick

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

22 January 1920

George Albert Matthews
Eileen Ellen Livesay

George Albert Matthews
Eileen Ellen Livesey
💍 1920/7958

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housemaid

23
20

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
6 months

Registrar's office Invercargill

3027

no person in New Zealand having authority to give consent

6 February 1920

J McKittrick Deputy - Registrar

No	16
Date of Notice	22 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Albert Matthews	Eileen Ellen Livesay
BDM Match (98%)	George Albert Matthews	Eileen Ellen Livesey
	💍 1920/7958
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housemaid
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's office Invercargill
Folio	3027
Consent	no person in New Zealand having authority to give consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1920
Officiating Minister	J McKittrick Deputy - Registrar

23 January 1920

John Hamilton
Agnes Martin Howie

John Hamilton
Agnes Martin Howie
💍 1920/7965

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Typiste

33
28

Invercargill
Invercargill

31 years
25 years

St Pauls Presbyterian Church Dee street Invercargill

3028

23 January 1920

Rev H Maclean Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	23 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hamilton	Agnes Martin Howie
	💍 1920/7965
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Typiste
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	31 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Presbyterian Church Dee street Invercargill
Folio	3028
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev H Maclean Presbyterian

23 January 1920

Peter Dalrymple Holmes
Isabella Eadie

Peter Dalrymple Holmes
Isabella Eadie
💍 1920/7966

Bachelor
Spinster

Wireless station hand
Milliner

27
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

1 month
5 years

Knox Church Ness street Invercargill

3029

23 January 1920

Rev H Maclean Presbyterian

No	18
Date of Notice	23 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Dalrymple Holmes	Isabella Eadie
	💍 1920/7966
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wireless station hand	Milliner
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 month	5 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church Ness street Invercargill
Folio	3029
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev H Maclean Presbyterian

26 January 1920

James Calvert Smith
Mary Isabella Burrowes

James Calvert Smith
Mary Isabella Burrowes
💍 1920/7967

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman
Saleswoman

22
20

Invercargill
Invercargill

22 years
5 years

St Johns Church of England Invercargill

3030

Patricia Swan Burrowes (mother)

26 January 1920

Rev T Russell Church of England

No	19
Date of Notice	26 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Calvert Smith	Mary Isabella Burrowes
	💍 1920/7967
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman	Saleswoman
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	22 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church of England Invercargill
Folio	3030
Consent	Patricia Swan Burrowes (mother)
Date of Certificate	26 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev T Russell Church of England

27 January 1920

John Maxwell Marshall
Norah Keady

John Maxwell Marshall
Norah Keady
💍 1920/7968

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Domestic duties

32
31

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 days
3 weeks

Roman Catholic Church Tyne street Invercargill

3031

27 January 1920

Rev H J Woods R Catholic

No	20
Date of Notice	27 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Maxwell Marshall	Norah Keady
	💍 1920/7968
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Domestic duties
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Tyne street Invercargill
Folio	3031
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev H J Woods R 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).