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 3389

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar J. H. Robinson

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

125

2 July 1923

Walter Lionel Sharp
Lily Harrison

Walter Lionel Sharp
Lily Harrison
💍 1923/5704

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

7337

2 July 1923

Rev. J. H. Robinson, Presbyterian

No	125
Date of Notice	2 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Lionel Sharp	Lily Harrison
	💍 1923/5704
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	7337
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Robinson, Presbyterian

126

2 July 1923

Peter McMillan
Margaret Victoria Jefcoate

Peter McMillan
Margaret Victoria Jefcoate
💍 1923/5705

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
22

Conical Hill
Invercargill

6 months
3 years

Residence of Mr. F. B. Jefcoate, Oteramika Road, Invercargill

7338

2 July 1923

Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	126
Date of Notice	2 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter McMillan	Margaret Victoria Jefcoate
	💍 1923/5705
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Conical Hill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. F. B. Jefcoate, Oteramika Road, Invercargill
Folio	7338
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

127

2 July 1923

John Sloan
Clarice May Baird

John Sloan
Clarice May Baird
💍 1923/5706

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory Employee

28
22

Wallacetown
Makarewa

19 years
11 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

7339

2 July 1923

Rev. J. H. Robinson, Presbyterian

No	127
Date of Notice	2 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Sloan	Clarice May Baird
	💍 1923/5706
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory Employee
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Wallacetown	Makarewa
Length of Residence	19 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	7339
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Robinson, Presbyterian

128

5 July 1923

Thomas Donald Robertson
Ivy Helen Cook

Thomas Donald Robertson
Ivy Helen Cook
💍 1923/5707

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
24

Edendale
Longbush

29 years
7 days

Presbyterian Church, Woodlands

7340

5 July 1923

Rev. G. F. Cose, Presbyterian

No	128
Date of Notice	5 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Donald Robertson	Ivy Helen Cook
	💍 1923/5707
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Edendale	Longbush
Length of Residence	29 years	7 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Woodlands
Folio	7340
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. F. Cose, Presbyterian

129

5 July 1923

Frederick Alexander Sutherland
Margaret Elizabeth Hamilton

Frederick Alexander Sutherland
Margaret Elizabeth Hamilton
💍 1923/5708

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
25

Brydone
Invercargill

11 years
6 years

Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

7341

5 July 1923

Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	129
Date of Notice	5 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Alexander Sutherland	Margaret Elizabeth Hamilton
	💍 1923/5708
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Brydone	Invercargill
Length of Residence	11 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	7341
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Gilbert, 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).