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 3391

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar J. McFarlane

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

135

9 July 1923

Milert Peter Schmidt
Charlotte Mary Mckenzie

Milert Peter Schmidt
Charlotte Mary McKenzie
💍 1923/5715

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
29

Woodlands
Invercargill

29 years
15 years

Residence of Mr. W. Ronald, 29 Liffey Street, Invercargill

7347

9 July 1923

Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	135
Date of Notice	9 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Milert Peter Schmidt	Charlotte Mary Mckenzie
BDM Match (98%)	Milert Peter Schmidt	Charlotte Mary McKenzie
	💍 1923/5715
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Woodlands	Invercargill
Length of Residence	29 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. Ronald, 29 Liffey Street, Invercargill
Folio	7347
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

136

9 July 1923

Cornelius Flynn
Christina Fraser Boyer

Cornelius Flynn
Christina Fraser Boyer
💍 1923/5716

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter

23
25

Invercargill
Invercargill

5 days
4 years

Residence of Mr. W. Boyer, 117 Ettrick Street, Invercargill

7348

9 July 1923

Rev. J. Chisholm, Presbyterian

No	136
Date of Notice	9 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cornelius Flynn	Christina Fraser Boyer
	💍 1923/5716
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. Boyer, 117 Ettrick Street, Invercargill
Folio	7348
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Chisholm, Presbyterian

137

9 July 1923

Enoch William Harrison
Catherine Lorna Mckinley

Enoch William Harrison
Catherine Lorna McIntyre
💍 1923/5717

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
2 years

First Church, Invercargill

7349

9 July 1923

Rev. J. F. Tylee, Presbyterian

No	137
Date of Notice	9 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Enoch William Harrison	Catherine Lorna Mckinley
BDM Match (88%)	Enoch William Harrison	Catherine Lorna McIntyre
	💍 1923/5717
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	First Church, Invercargill
Folio	7349
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Tylee, Presbyterian

138

12 July 1923

Frank Murray
Florrie Stewart

Frank Murray
Florrie Stewart
💍 1923/5725

Bachelor
Spinster

Trainer

22
18

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 years
18 years

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

7350

Hugh Fraser Stewart (Father)

12 July 1923

Registrar

No	138
Date of Notice	12 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Murray	Florrie Stewart
	💍 1923/5725
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Trainer
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	7350
Consent	Hugh Fraser Stewart (Father)
Date of Certificate	12 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Registrar

139

16 July 1923

Samuel Gordon
Alice Anna Shirley

Samuel Gordon
Alice Anna Shirley
💍 1923/5736

Bachelor
Widow (4/1/1920)

Bushman

44
53

Invercargill
Invercargill

14 days
14 days

First Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

7351

16 July 1923

Rev. J. L. Robinson, Presbyterian

No	139
Date of Notice	16 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Gordon	Alice Anna Shirley
	💍 1923/5736
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (4/1/1920)
Profession	Bushman
Age	44	53
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	14 days	14 days
Marriage Place	First Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	7351
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. 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).