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. 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

151

11 July 1924

David Devonald Hopkins
Elfreda Maud Barraclough

David Devonald Hopkins
Elfreda Maud Barraclough
💍 1924/2577

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
26

Wyndham
Woodlands

16 years
25 years

Presbyterian Church, Woodlands

7618

11 July 1924

G. F. Core (Presbyterian)

No	151
Date of Notice	11 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Devonald Hopkins	Elfreda Maud Barraclough
	💍 1924/2577
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Wyndham	Woodlands
Length of Residence	16 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Woodlands
Folio	7618
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1924
Officiating Minister	G. F. Core (Presbyterian)

152

12 July 1924

Leslie Edward Myers
Ellen Louisa Hall

Leslie Edward Myers
Ellen Louisa Hall
💍 1924/2578

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

19
21

Waikivi
Otatara

19 years
21 years

Methodist Church, Leet Street, Invercargill

7619

John Peter Myers (Father)

12 July 1924

A. W. Bean (Methodist)

No	152
Date of Notice	12 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Edward Myers	Ellen Louisa Hall
	💍 1924/2578
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	19	21
Dwelling Place	Waikivi	Otatara
Length of Residence	19 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Leet Street, Invercargill
Folio	7619
Consent	John Peter Myers (Father)
Date of Certificate	12 July 1924
Officiating Minister	A. W. Bean (Methodist)

153

15 July 1924

Wilfred James Christie
Elsie Margaret Crow

Wilford James Christie
Elsie Margaret Crow
💍 1924/2579

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker

25
19

Tussock Creek
Tussock Creek

3 years
19 years

St. Paul's Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

7620

Herbert Crow (Father)

15 July 1924

H. G. Gilbert (Presbyterian)

No	153
Date of Notice	15 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred James Christie	Elsie Margaret Crow
BDM Match (95%)	Wilford James Christie	Elsie Margaret Crow
	💍 1924/2579
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Tussock Creek	Tussock Creek
Length of Residence	3 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	7620
Consent	Herbert Crow (Father)
Date of Certificate	15 July 1924
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gilbert (Presbyterian)

154

18 July 1924

Robert Stanley Smith
Jeanie Bolquhoun McKenzie

Robert Stanley Smith
Jeanie Colquhoun McKenzie
💍 1924/2581

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

23
24

Waikivi
Invercargill

23 years
24 years

First Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

7621

18 July 1924

P. L. Robinson (Presbyterian)

No	154
Date of Notice	18 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Stanley Smith	Jeanie Bolquhoun McKenzie
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Stanley Smith	Jeanie Colquhoun McKenzie
	💍 1924/2581
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Waikivi	Invercargill
Length of Residence	23 years	24 years
Marriage Place	First Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	7621
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1924
Officiating Minister	P. L. Robinson (Presbyterian)

155

19 July 1924

William James Brown McNaught
Jessie McGlashan

William James Brown McNaught
Jessie McGlashan
💍 1924/2582

Widower (21 June 1923)
Widow (4 March 1922)

Farmer

39
38

Lime Hills
Invercargill

15 years
2 years

Residence of Mrs. W. P. Smith, 21 George Street, Invercargill

7622

19 July 1924

W. H. Norton (Presbyterian)

No	155
Date of Notice	19 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Brown McNaught	Jessie McGlashan
	💍 1924/2582
Condition	Widower (21 June 1923)	Widow (4 March 1922)
Profession	Farmer
Age	39	38
Dwelling Place	Lime Hills	Invercargill
Length of Residence	15 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. W. P. Smith, 21 George Street, Invercargill
Folio	7622
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1924
Officiating Minister	W. H. Norton (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).