Intentions to Marry, 1924 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840527, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1924 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.

1924h contains pages 3075-3498, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 3383

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1924 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

141

1 July 1924

Robert Stanley Tait
Dorothy Marie Hansen

Robert Stanley Tait
Dorothy Marie Hansen
💍 1924/2591

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
29

Greenhills
Invercargill

2 years
6 days

Residence of Mr. Frederick Sheef, Invercargill

7603

1 July 1924

E. Gardiner (Presbyterian)

No	141
Date of Notice	1 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Stanley Tait	Dorothy Marie Hansen
	💍 1924/2591
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Greenhills	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	6 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Frederick Sheef, Invercargill
Folio	7603
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1924
Officiating Minister	E. Gardiner (Presbyterian)

142

1 July 1924

Simeon Richards
Beatrix Hill

Simeon Richards
Beatrix Hill
💍 1924/68

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitter

30
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

17 years
6 years

St. John's Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

7609

1 July 1924

J. A. Lush (Anglican)

No	142
Date of Notice	1 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Simeon Richards	Beatrix Hill
	💍 1924/68
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitter
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	17 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	7609
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1924
Officiating Minister	J. A. Lush (Anglican)

143

3 July 1924

William Johnstone
Mabel Alice Jensen

William Johnstone
Mabel Alice Jensen
💍 1924/2593

Bachelor
Married, not heard of husband for over seven years last past

Labourer

36
37

Invercargill
Invercargill

7 years
7 years

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

7610

3 July 1924

Registrar

No	143
Date of Notice	3 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Johnstone	Mabel Alice Jensen
	💍 1924/2593
Condition	Bachelor	Married, not heard of husband for over seven years last past
Profession	Labourer
Age	36	37
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	7610
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1924
Officiating Minister	Registrar

144

4 July 1924

Henry Cunningham
Mary Elizabeth Rourke

Henry Cunningham
Mary Elizabeth Rourke
💍 1924/2570

Bachelor
Spinster

Retired Farmer

56
51

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

St. Paul's Church Manse, Don Street, Invercargill

7611

4 July 1924

H. G. Gilbert (Presbyterian)

No	144
Date of Notice	4 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Cunningham	Mary Elizabeth Rourke
	💍 1924/2570
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Retired Farmer
Age	56	51
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Manse, Don Street, Invercargill
Folio	7611
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1924
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gilbert (Presbyterian)

145

7 July 1924

John Henry McDowall
Charlotte Gove Duff

John Henry McDowall
Charlotte Gove Duff
💍 1924/2571

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller

24
23

Lochiel
Bluff

4 months
2 years

St. John's Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

7612

7 July 1924

J. A. Lush (Anglican)

No	145
Date of Notice	7 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry McDowall	Charlotte Gove Duff
	💍 1924/2571
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Lochiel	Bluff
Length of Residence	4 months	2 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	7612
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1924
Officiating Minister	J. A. Lush (Anglican)

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).