Intentions to Marry, 1921 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840503, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1921 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.

1921h contains pages 3127-3538, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 3409

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Invercargill Registrar H. G. Pitre

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

15 February 1921

Charles Robert Murray
Janet J. Sim

Charles Robert Murray
Janet Sim
💍 1921/1487

Bachelor
Spinster

Confectioner

30
20

Invercargill
Invercargill

29 years
life

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

3746

Harold Sim, Father

15 February 1921

Registrar

No	31
Date of Notice	15 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Robert Murray	Janet J. Sim
BDM Match (88%)	Charles Robert Murray	Janet Sim
	💍 1921/1487
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Confectioner
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	29 years	life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	3746
Consent	Harold Sim, Father
Date of Certificate	15 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar

17 February 1921

James Taylor Macdonald
Freda Wenham Wesney

James Taylor Macdonald
Freda Wenham Wesney
💍 1921/10171

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
House Duties

30
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

30 years
22 years

Methodist Church, Leet Street, Invercargill

2842

17 February 1921

H. A. Sharpe, Methodist

No	32
Date of Notice	17 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Taylor Macdonald	Freda Wenham Wesney
	💍 1921/10171
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	House Duties
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	30 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Leet Street, Invercargill
Folio	2842
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1921
Officiating Minister	H. A. Sharpe, Methodist

17 February 1921

David Eric Morrison Stewart
Ivy Rosabelle Phillipson

David Eric Morison Stewart
Ivy Rosabelle Phillipson
💍 1921/10172

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman
Dressmaker

22
26

Invercargill
Invercargill

22 years
26 years

English Church, Lay Street, Invercargill

2843

17 February 1921

R. G. Coats, English

No	33
Date of Notice	17 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Eric Morrison Stewart	Ivy Rosabelle Phillipson
BDM Match (98%)	David Eric Morison Stewart	Ivy Rosabelle Phillipson
	💍 1921/10172
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman	Dressmaker
Age	22	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	22 years	26 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Lay Street, Invercargill
Folio	2843
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1921
Officiating Minister	R. G. Coats, English

17 February 1921

Frank Alpheus Steans
Mary Alice Steans

Frank Alpheus Stears
Mary Alice Stears
💍 1921/10173

Widower
Spinster

Retired

62
54

Invercargill
Invercargill

48 years
5 years

English Church, Lay Street, Invercargill

2844

17 February 1921

R. G. Coats, English

No	34
Date of Notice	17 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Alpheus Steans	Mary Alice Steans
BDM Match (95%)	Frank Alpheus Stears	Mary Alice Stears
	💍 1921/10173
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Retired
Age	62	54
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	48 years	5 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Lay Street, Invercargill
Folio	2844
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1921
Officiating Minister	R. G. Coats, English

18 February 1921

William Lutton
Lydia Evelyn East

William Sutton
Lydia Evelyn East
💍 1921/10175

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

28
23

Invercargill
Invercargill

12 months
9 months

English Church, Lay Street, Invercargill

2845

18 February 1921

R. G. Coats, English

No	35
Date of Notice	18 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Lutton	Lydia Evelyn East
BDM Match (96%)	William Sutton	Lydia Evelyn East
	💍 1921/10175
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	12 months	9 months
Marriage Place	English Church, Lay Street, Invercargill
Folio	2845
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1921
Officiating Minister	R. G. Coats, English

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).