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 3432

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

139

23 July 1921

George Myles Lumbull
Sarah Margery Johnston

George Myles Turnbull
Sarah Margery Johnston
💍 1921/4674

Widower
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

29
21

Gore
Gore

2 years
3 weeks

Presbyterian Church, Elles Road, Invercargill

7993

23 July 1921

E. Gardiner, Presbyterian

No	139
Date of Notice	23 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Myles Lumbull	Sarah Margery Johnston
BDM Match (93%)	George Myles Turnbull	Sarah Margery Johnston
	💍 1921/4674
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Gore	Gore
Length of Residence	2 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Elles Road, Invercargill
Folio	7993
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1921
Officiating Minister	E. Gardiner, Presbyterian

140

26 July 1921

Alexander McMurdo
Elizabeth Clements

Alexander McMurdo
Elizabeth Clements
💍 1921/4675

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver
Waitress

30
19

Invercargill
Bluff

4 years
14 years

Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

7994

James Clements, father

26 July 1921

H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	140
Date of Notice	26 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander McMurdo	Elizabeth Clements
	💍 1921/4675
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver	Waitress
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Bluff
Length of Residence	4 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	7994
Consent	James Clements, father
Date of Certificate	26 July 1921
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

141

24 July 1921

James Price
Ritchie Lindsay McDougall

James Price
Ritchie Lindsay McDougall
💍 1921/4677

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home Duties

35
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

7995

24 July 1921

J. A. Lush, Church of England

No	141
Date of Notice	24 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Price	Ritchie Lindsay McDougall
	💍 1921/4677
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home Duties
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	7995
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1921
Officiating Minister	J. A. Lush, Church of England

142

26 July 1921

Solomon Shepherd
Mildred Lees

Solomon Shepherd
Hildred Lees
💍 1921/4678

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Waitress

26
26

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 years
8 years

Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

7996

26 July 1921

H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	142
Date of Notice	26 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Solomon Shepherd	Mildred Lees
BDM Match (96%)	Solomon Shepherd	Hildred Lees
	💍 1921/4678
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Waitress
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	7996
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1921
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

143

30 July 1921

James O'Brien
Annie Henihan

James O'Brien
Annie Lenihan
💍 1921/4679

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Employee
Machinist

31
29

Invercargill
Invercargill

31 years
15 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill

7997

30 July 1921

Wm Burke, Roman Catholic

No	143
Date of Notice	30 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James O'Brien	Annie Henihan
BDM Match (96%)	James O'Brien	Annie Lenihan
	💍 1921/4679
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Employee	Machinist
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	31 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill
Folio	7997
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Wm 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).