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 3386

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1923 Registrar B. Harperwood

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

116

15 June 1923

Percy Edward Turner
Margaretha Scharfe

Percy Edward Turner
Margarethe Scharfe
💍 1923/9556

Bachelor
Spinster

Lineman H.G.Ry
Domestic

32
33

Invercargill
Invercargill

22 years
9 years

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

5078

15 June 1923

Registrar

No	116
Date of Notice	15 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Edward Turner	Margaretha Scharfe
BDM Match (97%)	Percy Edward Turner	Margarethe Scharfe
	💍 1923/9556
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lineman H.G.Ry	Domestic
Age	32	33
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	22 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	5078
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1923
Officiating Minister	Registrar

117

18 June 1923

John Frederick Noble
Lily Yorke

John Frederick Noble
Lily Yorke
💍 1923/9561

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
21

Otangahan
Invercargill

15 years
6 months

St Paul's Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

5079

18 June 1923

Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	117
Date of Notice	18 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Frederick Noble	Lily Yorke
	💍 1923/9561
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Otangahan	Invercargill
Length of Residence	15 years	6 months
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	5079
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 June 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

118

19 June 1923

Joseph Charles McMahon
Kate Helena McDonough

Joseph Charles McMahon
Kate Helena McDonough
💍 1923/9562

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

32
30

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
30 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill

5080

19 June 1923

Rev. J. Martin, Roman Catholic

No	118
Date of Notice	19 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Charles McMahon	Kate Helena McDonough
	💍 1923/9562
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill
Folio	5080
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 June 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Martin, Roman Catholic

119

23 June 1923

Alfred Goldburne Fowler
Lucy Jane Stott

Alfred Goldburne Fowler
Lucy Jane Stott
💍 1923/9563

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Messenger

22
20

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 years
20 years

Church of England, Tay Street, Invercargill

5081

Alice Stott, mother (widow)

23 June 1923

Rev. J. A. Lush, Anglican

No	119
Date of Notice	23 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Goldburne Fowler	Lucy Jane Stott
	💍 1923/9563
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Messenger
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	5081
Consent	Alice Stott, mother (widow)
Date of Certificate	23 June 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Lush, Anglican

120

25 June 1923

Daniel James Coakley
Mary Teresa Dickens

Daniel James Coakley
Mary Teresa Dickens
💍 1923/9564

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

21
20

Isla Bank
Invercargill

2 years
20 years

St. Mary's Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill

5082

Alfred Dickens, father

25 June 1923

Rev. J. Martin, Roman Catholic

No	120
Date of Notice	25 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel James Coakley	Mary Teresa Dickens
	💍 1923/9564
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Isla Bank	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill
Folio	5082
Consent	Alfred Dickens, father
Date of Certificate	25 June 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Martin, Roman Catholic

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).