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 3358

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1924 Registrar J. R. Morrison

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

21 February 1924

William Stott
Violet Barrie

William Stott
Violet Carrie
💍 1924/9237

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinetmaker

23
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

19 years
11 years

First Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

2336

21 February 1924

Rev. J. L. Robinson (Presbyterian)

No	26
Date of Notice	21 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stott	Violet Barrie
BDM Match (96%)	William Stott	Violet Carrie
	💍 1924/9237
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	19 years	11 years
Marriage Place	First Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	2336
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. L. Robinson (Presbyterian)

22 February 1924

John Richard Whitmore
Annie Ellsmore

John Richard Whitmore
Annie Elsmore
💍 1924/9238

Widower (April 1904)
Spinster

Printer

52
49

Invercargill
Invercargill

19 years
18 years

Roman Catholic Church Vestry, Tay Street, Invercargill

2337

22 February 1924

W. Burke (Roman Catholic)

No	27
Date of Notice	22 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Richard Whitmore	Annie Ellsmore
BDM Match (96%)	John Richard Whitmore	Annie Elsmore
	💍 1924/9238
Condition	Widower (April 1904)	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	52	49
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	19 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Vestry, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	2337
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1924
Officiating Minister	W. Burke (Roman Catholic)

22 February 1924

George Gordon Thomson
Henrietta Rebecca Brengle

George Gordon Thomson
Henrietta Rebecca Crengle
💍 1924/9239

Bachelor
Widow (January 1921)

Farmer

36
24

Edendale
Grove Bush

4 years
3 days

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

2338

22 February 1924

Registrar

No	28
Date of Notice	22 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Gordon Thomson	Henrietta Rebecca Brengle
BDM Match (98%)	George Gordon Thomson	Henrietta Rebecca Crengle
	💍 1924/9239
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (January 1921)
Profession	Farmer
Age	36	24
Dwelling Place	Edendale	Grove Bush
Length of Residence	4 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	2338
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1924
Officiating Minister	Registrar

23 February 1924

Athol Alfred Hart
Rangi West

Athol Alfred Hart
Rangi West
💍 1924/9240

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine cleaner

24
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 months
few minutes

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

2339

23 February 1924

Registrar

No	29
Date of Notice	23 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Athol Alfred Hart	Rangi West
	💍 1924/9240
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine cleaner
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 months	few minutes
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	2339
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1924
Officiating Minister	Registrar

25 February 1924

Mark Finch Stevens
Alice May Macdonald

Mark Finch Stevens
Alice May Macdonald
💍 1924/9241

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk

25
28

Invercargill
Invercargill

6 years
28 years

St. Paul's Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

2340

25 February 1924

Rev. H. G. Gilbert (Presbyterian)

No	30
Date of Notice	25 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mark Finch Stevens	Alice May Macdonald
	💍 1924/9241
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 years	28 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	2340
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. 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).