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 3434

District of 30 September 1921 Quarter ending Invercargill Registrar F. G. Price

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

149

8 August 1921

Wallace George Easton
Violet Myrtle Greig Jarvie

Wallace George Easton
Violet Myrtle Greig Jarvie
💍 1921/3518

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman
Shop assistant

23
26

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 months
2 weeks

Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

8001

8 August 1921

J. L. Robinson, Presbyterian

No	149
Date of Notice	8 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wallace George Easton	Violet Myrtle Greig Jarvie
	💍 1921/3518
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Shop assistant
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 months	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	8001
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1921
Officiating Minister	J. L. Robinson, Presbyterian

150

9 August 1921

Charles Thomas Berry
Frances Lillian Williams

Charles Thomas Berry
Frances Lillian Williams
💍 1921/3529

Divorced (decree absolute 19/12/20)
Spinster

Sculptor
Clerk

39
19

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 years
8 years

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

8002

Francis Albert Williams, father

9 August 1921

Registrar

No	150
Date of Notice	9 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Thomas Berry	Frances Lillian Williams
	💍 1921/3529
Condition	Divorced (decree absolute 19/12/20)	Spinster
Profession	Sculptor	Clerk
Age	39	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	8002
Consent	Francis Albert Williams, father
Date of Certificate	9 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar

151

11 August 1921

Arthur Douglas Buttolph
Marjorie Bailey McIntosh

Arthur Douglas Buttolph
Marjorie Bailey McIntosh
💍 1921/3536

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Shop Assistant

32
23

Invercargill
Invercargill

25 years
11 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

8003

11 August 1921

J. Collie, Presbyterian

No	151
Date of Notice	11 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Douglas Buttolph	Marjorie Bailey McIntosh
	💍 1921/3536
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Shop Assistant
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	25 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	8003
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1921
Officiating Minister	J. Collie, Presbyterian

152

12 August 1921

Alexander William Gardiner
Agnes Tannock Cunson

Alexander William Gardiner
Agnes Tannock Eunson
💍 1921/3537

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk
Shop Assistant

23
25

Invercargill
Invercargill

10 years
12 years

Bride's Mother's Residence, 19 Maitland Street, Invercargill

8004

12 August 1921

E. Gardiner, Presbyterian

No	152
Date of Notice	12 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander William Gardiner	Agnes Tannock Cunson
BDM Match (98%)	Alexander William Gardiner	Agnes Tannock Eunson
	💍 1921/3537
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	Shop Assistant
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	10 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Bride's Mother's Residence, 19 Maitland Street, Invercargill
Folio	8004
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1921
Officiating Minister	E. Gardiner, Presbyterian

153

13 August 1921

John Smith Brass
Annie Duguid Weir

John Smith Brass
Annie Duguid Weir
💍 1921/3538

Bachelor
Widow (3/4/16)

Carpenter
Domestic

53
44

Nightcaps
Invercargill

2 years
3 months

Residence of The Rev. Chisholm, Eon Street, Invercargill

8005

13 August 1921

J. Chisholm, Presbyterian

No	153
Date of Notice	13 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Smith Brass	Annie Duguid Weir
	💍 1921/3538
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (3/4/16)
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	53	44
Dwelling Place	Nightcaps	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of The Rev. Chisholm, Eon Street, Invercargill
Folio	8005
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1921
Officiating Minister	J. Chisholm, Presbyterian

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).