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 3411

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Invercargill Registrar F. G. Pilne

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

26 February 1921

Alexander Jukes
Frances Lawrence

Alexander Jukes
Frances Lawrence
💍 1921/1226

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Typiste

35
33

Woodlands
Woodlands

1 year
Arrived by 'Paloona' from Melbourne on 25/2/21

Residence, Earn Street, Invercargill

2851

26 February 1921

J. Chisholm, Presbyterian

No	41
Date of Notice	26 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Jukes	Frances Lawrence
	💍 1921/1226
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Typiste
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Woodlands	Woodlands
Length of Residence	1 year	Arrived by 'Paloona' from Melbourne on 25/2/21
Marriage Place	Residence, Earn Street, Invercargill
Folio	2851
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1921
Officiating Minister	J. Chisholm, Presbyterian

28 February 1921

Frank McHellop
Mary Ann Smith

Frank McKillop
Mary Ann Smith
💍 1921/1237

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Domestic

33
31

Invercargill
Invercargill

15 years
10 years

Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

2852

28 February 1921

R. C. Hunter, Presbyterian

No	42
Date of Notice	28 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank McHellop	Mary Ann Smith
BDM Match (93%)	Frank McKillop	Mary Ann Smith
	💍 1921/1237
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	15 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	2852
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1921
Officiating Minister	R. C. Hunter, Presbyterian

28 February 1921

William Cooper Donnelly
Helen Kate Kirkpatrick

William Cooper Donnelly
Helen Kate Kirkpatrick
💍 1921/1243

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

44
39

Invercargill
Waitio

21 years
30 years

Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

2853

28 February 1921

A. Macdonald, Presbyterian

No	43
Date of Notice	28 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cooper Donnelly	Helen Kate Kirkpatrick
	💍 1921/1243
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	44	39
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Waitio
Length of Residence	21 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	2853
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1921
Officiating Minister	A. Macdonald, Presbyterian

3 March 1921

Norman McIntosh
Lizzie Sarah Mona Macdonald

Norman McIntosh
Lizzie Sarah Mona MacDonell
💍 1921/1244

Bachelor
Widow

Sawmill-hand
Domestic

23
25

Tokonui
Invercargill

1 year
2 years

English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

2854

3 March 1921

B. G. Coats, English

No	44
Date of Notice	3 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman McIntosh	Lizzie Sarah Mona Macdonald
BDM Match (94%)	Norman McIntosh	Lizzie Sarah Mona MacDonell
	💍 1921/1244
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Sawmill-hand	Domestic
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Tokonui	Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 year	2 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	2854
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1921
Officiating Minister	B. G. Coats, English

4 March 1921

David Gregg
Ivy Race

David Gregg
Ivy Race
💍 1921/1245

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

33
25

Tokonui
Invercargill

30 years
9 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

2855

4 March 1921

H. T. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	45
Date of Notice	4 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Gregg	Ivy Race
	💍 1921/1245
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Tokonui	Invercargill
Length of Residence	30 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	2855
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1921
Officiating Minister	H. T. Gilbert, Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).