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 3370

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar H. J. 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

6 March 1923

Francis George Hughes
Isabella Ellen Phillipson

Francis George Hughes
Isabella Ellen Phillipson
💍 1923/2796

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

35
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

23 years
24 years

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

2518

6 March 1923

Registrar

No	41
Date of Notice	6 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis George Hughes	Isabella Ellen Phillipson
	💍 1923/2796
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	23 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	2518
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Registrar

9 March 1923

John Houston
Gertrude Green

John Houston
Gertrude Green
💍 1923/2797

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

28
22

Wellington
Invercargill

3 years
3 months

St. John's Anglican Church, Invercargill

2519

9 March 1923

J. A. Lush, Church of England

No	42
Date of Notice	9 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Houston	Gertrude Green
	💍 1923/2797
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	3 months
Marriage Place	St. John's Anglican Church, Invercargill
Folio	2519
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1923
Officiating Minister	J. A. Lush, Church of England

8 March 1923

Alexander Robert Mackie
Marion Margaret Forbes

Alexander Robert Mackie
Marion Margaret Forbes
💍 1923/2798

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor mechanic
Domestic duties

26
24

Dannevirke
Invercargill

15 years
24 years

Methodist Church, Elles Road, Invercargill

2520

8 March 1923

J. H. Haslam, Methodist

No	43
Date of Notice	8 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Robert Mackie	Marion Margaret Forbes
	💍 1923/2798
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor mechanic	Domestic duties
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Invercargill
Length of Residence	15 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Elles Road, Invercargill
Folio	2520
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1923
Officiating Minister	J. H. Haslam, Methodist

14 March 1923

Jasman Thompson Dawson
Jessie Hawerence Hoyle

Tasman Thompson Dawson
Jessie Lawrence Moyle
💍 1923/2800

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman N.Z.R.
Dressmaker

28
25

Wellington
Invercargill

2 years
9 years

Baptist Church, Esk Street, Invercargill

2521

14 March 1923

J. Carlisle, Baptist

No	44
Date of Notice	14 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jasman Thompson Dawson	Jessie Hawerence Hoyle
BDM Match (91%)	Tasman Thompson Dawson	Jessie Lawrence Moyle
	💍 1923/2800
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman N.Z.R.	Dressmaker
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Esk Street, Invercargill
Folio	2521
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1923
Officiating Minister	J. Carlisle, Baptist

16 March 1923

Thomas Craig Brown
Muriel Olive Weir

Thomas Creig Brown
Muriel Olive Weir
💍 1923/2801

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
House keeper

31
30

Waianiwa
Waianiwa

14 years
4 months

Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

2522

16 March 1923

H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	45
Date of Notice	16 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Craig Brown	Muriel Olive Weir
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Creig Brown	Muriel Olive Weir
	💍 1923/2801
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	House keeper
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Waianiwa	Waianiwa
Length of Residence	14 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	2522
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1923
Officiating Minister	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).