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 3401

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 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

228

30 October 1924

Angus McKay Helm
Isabel Kissell

Angus McKay Helm
Isabel Kissell
💍 1924/7585

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

34
27

Invercargill
Invercargill

24 years
27 years

First Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

10160

30 October 1924

J. L. Robinson (Presbyterian)

No	228
Date of Notice	30 October 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Angus McKay Helm	Isabel Kissell
	💍 1924/7585
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	24 years	27 years
Marriage Place	First Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	10160
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1924
Officiating Minister	J. L. Robinson (Presbyterian)

229

31 October 1924

Thomas William Thomsen
Mary Maud Elizabeth Sands

Thomas William Thomsen
Mary Maud Elizabeth Sands
💍 1924/7562

Bachelor
Divorcee, Decree absolute 29 Aug 1924

Telegraph Linesman

30
31

Invercargill
Invercargill

14 years
9 years

St. Paul's Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

10161

31 October 1924

H. G. Gilbert (Presbyterian)

No	229
Date of Notice	31 October 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Thomsen	Mary Maud Elizabeth Sands
	💍 1924/7562
Condition	Bachelor	Divorcee, Decree absolute 29 Aug 1924
Profession	Telegraph Linesman
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	14 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	10161
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1924
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gilbert (Presbyterian)

230

31 October 1924

Robert Lowe Andrews
Frances Elizabeth Gibbs

Robert Lowe Andrews
Frances Elizabeth Gibbs
💍 1924/7563

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
28

Myross Bush
Myross Bush

12 months
12 months

St. Paul's Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

10162

31 October 1924

J. H. Thomson (Presbyterian)

No	230
Date of Notice	31 October 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Lowe Andrews	Frances Elizabeth Gibbs
	💍 1924/7563
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Myross Bush	Myross Bush
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	10162
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1924
Officiating Minister	J. H. Thomson (Presbyterian)

231

3 November 1924

John William Dressler
Sarah Mary Helen O'Brien

John William Tressler
Sarah Mary Ellen O'Brien
💍 1924/7564

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

29
27

Invercargill
Invercargill

6 years
5 years

St. John's Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

10163

3 November 1924

J. A. Lush (Anglican)

No	231
Date of Notice	3 November 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Dressler	Sarah Mary Helen O'Brien
BDM Match (93%)	John William Tressler	Sarah Mary Ellen O'Brien
	💍 1924/7564
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	10163
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1924
Officiating Minister	J. A. Lush (Anglican)

232

4 November 1924

William Woods
Adeline Maud Vickery

William Woods
Adeline Maud Vickery
💍 1924/7565

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
26

South Hillend
Invercargill

23 years
26 years

St. John's Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

10164

4 November 1924

J. A. Lush (Anglican)

No	232
Date of Notice	4 November 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Woods	Adeline Maud Vickery
	💍 1924/7565
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	South Hillend	Invercargill
Length of Residence	23 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	10164
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 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).