Intentions to Marry, 1923 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840519, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1923 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.

1923e contains pages 3085-3502, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 3365

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar F. G. Petrie

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

30 January 1923

Wilfred Price
Janet Catherine Dow

Wilfred Price
Janet Catherine Drow
💍 1923/2778

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer's Fitter
Tailoress

39
32

Invercargill
Invercargill

32 years
26 years

Residence of Mr James Dow, 121 Eye Street, Invercargill

2498

30 January 1923

A. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	30 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Price	Janet Catherine Dow
BDM Match (98%)	Wilfred Price	Janet Catherine Drow
	💍 1923/2778
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer's Fitter	Tailoress
Age	39	32
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	32 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr James Dow, 121 Eye Street, Invercargill
Folio	2498
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1923
Officiating Minister	A. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

30 January 1923

Archibald McKendry
Henrietta Ellen Ramsay

Archibald McKendry
Henrietta Ellen Ramsay
💍 1923/2779

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's assistant
Domestic servant

27
21

Woodlands
Woodlands

27 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Woodlands

2499

30 January 1923

G. F. Cox, Presbyterian

No	22
Date of Notice	30 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald McKendry	Henrietta Ellen Ramsay
	💍 1923/2779
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's assistant	Domestic servant
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Woodlands	Woodlands
Length of Residence	27 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Woodlands
Folio	2499
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1923
Officiating Minister	G. F. Cox, Presbyterian

2 February 1923

John Tunchey
Barbara Ellen Patterson

John Knuckey
Barbara Ellen Patterson
💍 1923/2780

Widower (12/9/1920)
Widow (30/6/1916)

Railway Employee
Domestic duties

55
48

Invercargill
Invercargill

53 years
28 years

Methodist Church, Leet Street, Invercargill

2500

2 February 1923

H. A. Sharp, Methodist

No	23
Date of Notice	2 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Tunchey	Barbara Ellen Patterson
BDM Match (83%)	John Knuckey	Barbara Ellen Patterson
	💍 1923/2780
Condition	Widower (12/9/1920)	Widow (30/6/1916)
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic duties
Age	55	48
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	53 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Leet Street, Invercargill
Folio	2500
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1923
Officiating Minister	H. A. Sharp, Methodist

3 February 1923

William Lawson Semple
Doris Isabella Pope

William Samson Temple
Doris Isabella Pope
💍 1923/10278

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Domestic duties

33
24

Clinton
Invercargill

6 months
8 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

2501

3 February 1923

J. L. Robinson, Presbyterian

No	24
Date of Notice	3 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Lawson Semple	Doris Isabella Pope
BDM Match (93%)	William Samson Temple	Doris Isabella Pope
	💍 1923/10278
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic duties
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Clinton	Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 months	8 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	2501
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1923
Officiating Minister	J. L. Robinson, Presbyterian

6 February 1923

William John Marshall
Frances Elizabeth Bath

William John Marshall
Frances Elizabeth Bath
💍 1923/2788

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

35
32

Invercargill
Otahuhu

3 days
32 years

St. Pauls Presbyterian Church, Invercargill

2502

6 February 1923

E. Gardiner, Presbyterian

No	25
Date of Notice	6 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Marshall	Frances Elizabeth Bath
	💍 1923/2788
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	35	32
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Otahuhu
Length of Residence	3 days	32 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Presbyterian Church, Invercargill
Folio	2502
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1923
Officiating Minister	E. Gardiner, 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).