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 3406

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

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

25 January 1921

Robert William Williams
Margaret Macdonald

Robert William Williams
Margaret Macdonald
💍 1921/10174

Ernest Tilley
Margaret Macdonald
💍 1921/8327

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Nurse

38
26

Lelvais Point
Invercargill

6 months
17 years

Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

2827

26 January 1921

H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	16
Date of Notice	25 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William Williams	Margaret Macdonald
	💍 1921/10174
BDM Match (63%)	Ernest Tilley	Margaret Macdonald
	💍 1921/8327
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Nurse
Age	38	26
Dwelling Place	Lelvais Point	Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 months	17 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	2827
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1921
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

27 January 1921

William McDonald
Myrtle Agnes Sheat

William McDonald
Myrtle Agnes Sheat
💍 1921/10181

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
22

Morton Mains
Morton Mains

6 years
15 years

Residence of Mr. E. G. Sheat, Morton Mains, Southland

2828

27 January 1921

A. C. Wedderspoon, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	27 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McDonald	Myrtle Agnes Sheat
	💍 1921/10181
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Morton Mains	Morton Mains
Length of Residence	6 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. E. G. Sheat, Morton Mains, Southland
Folio	2828
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1921
Officiating Minister	A. C. Wedderspoon, Presbyterian

31 January 1921

Harry Harris Litton
Mabel Gladys Callender

Harry Marris Button
Mabel Gladys Callender
💍 1921/10182

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

38
36

Limehills
Invercargill

15 years
22 years

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Invercargill

2829

31 January 1921

G. H. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	18
Date of Notice	31 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Harris Litton	Mabel Gladys Callender
BDM Match (92%)	Harry Marris Button	Mabel Gladys Callender
	💍 1921/10182
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	38	36
Dwelling Place	Limehills	Invercargill
Length of Residence	15 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Invercargill
Folio	2829
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1921
Officiating Minister	G. H. Gilbert, Presbyterian

1 February 1921

Edwin Alexander Kelly
Clara Anna Cross

Edwin Alexander Kelly
Clara Anna Cross
💍 1921/10183

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic Duties

25
19

Invercargill
Invercargill

20 years
10 years

Knox Manse, 79 Earn Street, Invercargill

2830

George Cross, father

22 February 1921

J. Chisholm, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	1 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Alexander Kelly	Clara Anna Cross
	💍 1921/10183
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic Duties
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	20 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Knox Manse, 79 Earn Street, Invercargill
Folio	2830
Consent	George Cross, father
Date of Certificate	22 February 1921
Officiating Minister	J. Chisholm, Presbyterian

1 February 1921

John Callaghan
Jessie Harris

John O'Callaghan
Jessie Harris
💍 1921/10184

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk

22
22

Waikivi, Invercargill
Waikivi, Tyne Street, Invercargill

2 years
22 years

St. Basilica Church, Invercargill

2831

1 February 1921

M. Spillane, Roman Catholic

No	20
Date of Notice	1 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Callaghan	Jessie Harris
BDM Match (94%)	John O'Callaghan	Jessie Harris
	💍 1921/10184
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Waikivi, Invercargill	Waikivi, Tyne Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Basilica Church, Invercargill
Folio	2831
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1921
Officiating Minister	M. Spillane, 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).