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 3392

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar J. A. [illegible]

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

140

17 July 1923

John Robert Sheddan
Helen Pirie Ross

John Robert Sheddan
Helen Pirie Ross
💍 1923/5743

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer

35
24

Middlemarch
Invercargill

3 weeks
4 days

St. Paul's Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

7352

17 July 1923

Rev. H. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	140
Date of Notice	17 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robert Sheddan	Helen Pirie Ross
	💍 1923/5743
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Middlemarch	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 weeks	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	7352
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Gilbert, Presbyterian

141

21 July 1923

George Joseph William Gorton
Evelyn May Lee

George Joseph William Gorton
Evelyn May Lee
💍 1923/5744

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
26

Makarewa
Makarewa

22 years
2 years

All Saints Church, Gladstone, Invercargill

7353

21 July 1923

Rev. G. Fynes Clinton, Church of England

No	141
Date of Notice	21 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Joseph William Gorton	Evelyn May Lee
	💍 1923/5744
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	26
Dwelling Place	Makarewa	Makarewa
Length of Residence	22 years	2 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Gladstone, Invercargill
Folio	7353
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Fynes Clinton, Church of England

142

23 July 1923

Alexander Campbell Ewing Stevens
Mona Reid

Alexander Campbell Ewing Stevens
Mona Reid
💍 1923/5745

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
24

Woodend
Woodend

1 day
24 years

Presbyterian Church, Woodend

7354

23 July 1923

Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	142
Date of Notice	23 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Campbell Ewing Stevens	Mona Reid
	💍 1923/5745
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Woodend	Woodend
Length of Residence	1 day	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Woodend
Folio	7354
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

143

31 July 1923

Thomas Albert Aris
Isabel Eugenie Raymond

Thomas Albert Aris
Isabel Eugenie Raymond
💍 1923/5746

Widower (9/1/1922)
Spinster

Veterinary Surgeon

46
47

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

All Saints Church, Gladstone, Invercargill

7355

31 July 1923

Rev. G. Fynes Clinton, Church of England

No	143
Date of Notice	31 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Albert Aris	Isabel Eugenie Raymond
	💍 1923/5746
Condition	Widower (9/1/1922)	Spinster
Profession	Veterinary Surgeon
Age	46	47
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Gladstone, Invercargill
Folio	7355
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Fynes Clinton, Church of England

144

2 August 1923

Thomas Darragh
Eveline Murdoch

Thomas Darragh
Eveline Murdoch
💍 1923/5747

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
28

Fairfax
Invercargill

4 years
28 years

Church of Christ, Tay Street, Invercargill

7356

2 August 1923

Mr. G. Fitzgerald, Church of Christ

No	144
Date of Notice	2 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Darragh	Eveline Murdoch
	💍 1923/5747
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Fairfax	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	7356
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Mr. G. Fitzgerald, Church of Christ

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).