Intentions to Marry, 1922 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840511, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1922 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.

1922h contains pages 2981-3386, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 3289

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 1922 Registrar F. J. 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

142

2 October 1922

James Proctor Nicholson
Ellison Bouchier

James Proctor Nicholson
Ellison Bourchier
💍 1922/7147

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

52
34

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 days
12 months

Residence of Mr. R. Ross, 54 Eye Street, Invercargill

9391

2 October 1922

J. A. Lush, Church of England

No	142
Date of Notice	2 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Proctor Nicholson	Ellison Bouchier
BDM Match (97%)	James Proctor Nicholson	Ellison Bourchier
	💍 1922/7147
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	52	34
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 days	12 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. R. Ross, 54 Eye Street, Invercargill
Folio	9391
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1922
Officiating Minister	J. A. Lush, Church of England

143

2 October 1922

James Gurnbull
Henrietta Isabel Backsoft

James Turnbull
Henrietta Mabel Cockroft
💍 1922/7148

Widower (24/8/10)
Widow (Divorce Absolute 13/4/21)

Farmer
Domestic

43
30

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 years
30 years

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

9392

2 October 1922

Registrar

No	143
Date of Notice	2 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gurnbull	Henrietta Isabel Backsoft
BDM Match (86%)	James Turnbull	Henrietta Mabel Cockroft
	💍 1922/7148
Condition	Widower (24/8/10)	Widow (Divorce Absolute 13/4/21)
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	43	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	9392
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Registrar

144

2 October 1922

Harold Francis Henry
Jessie Tessie Edina Hamilton

Harold Francis Henry
Tessie Edina Hamilton
💍 1922/7149

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist
Dressmaker

23
26

Invercargill
Invercargill

11 years
19 years

Methodist Church, Leet Street, Invercargill

9393

2 October 1922

H. A. Sharp, Methodist

No	144
Date of Notice	2 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Francis Henry	Jessie Tessie Edina Hamilton
BDM Match (88%)	Harold Francis Henry	Tessie Edina Hamilton
	💍 1922/7149
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist	Dressmaker
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	11 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Leet Street, Invercargill
Folio	9393
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1922
Officiating Minister	H. A. Sharp, Methodist

145

3 October 1922

Benjamin John Boivin
Annie Buff

Benjamin John Boivin
Annie Cuff
💍 1922/7150

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Domestic

19
19

Invercargill
Invercargill

10 years
14 years

Residence of Mr. B. Boivin, 150 Tweed Street, Invercargill

9394

Benjamin Boivin, father; Edgar Edward Buff, father

3 October 1922

H. A. Sharp, Methodist

No	145
Date of Notice	3 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin John Boivin	Annie Buff
BDM Match (95%)	Benjamin John Boivin	Annie Cuff
	💍 1922/7150
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	10 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. B. Boivin, 150 Tweed Street, Invercargill
Folio	9394
Consent	Benjamin Boivin, father; Edgar Edward Buff, father
Date of Certificate	3 October 1922
Officiating Minister	H. A. Sharp, Methodist

146

4 October 1922

Frederick Cook
Ada Williamson

Frederick Cook
Ada Williamson
💍 1922/7151

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

29
23

Invercargill
West Plains

4 days
10 days

Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

9395

4 October 1922

J. L. Robinson, Presbyterian

No	146
Date of Notice	4 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Cook	Ada Williamson
	💍 1922/7151
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	West Plains
Length of Residence	4 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	9395
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1922
Officiating Minister	J. L. Robinson, 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).