Intentions to Marry, 1910 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840444, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1910 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1910a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1910b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1910c).

Page 701

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 1910 Registrar Alexander Mair

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

2902

24 November 1910

Stanley Gordon Reid
Ruth Gifford Williams

Stanley Gordan Reid
Ruth Gifford Williams
💍 1910/7668

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

32
26

Hawera
Oamaru

3 months
6 years

St. Luke's Anglican Church, Oamaru

10/8026

24 November 1910

Rev. J. G. S. Bartlett

No	2902
Date of Notice	24 November 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Gordon Reid	Ruth Gifford Williams
BDM Match (97%)	Stanley Gordan Reid	Ruth Gifford Williams
	💍 1910/7668
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 months	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Anglican Church, Oamaru
Folio	10/8026
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 November 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. S. Bartlett

2903

5 December 1910

Donald William Dolmie
Jemima Hall Henderson

Donald William Tolmie
Jemima Hall Henderson
💍 1910/7647

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

34
30

Awamoko
Awamoko

5 years
30 years

In the residence of John Henderson, Awamoko

10/8020

5 December 1910

Rev. John Steven

No	2903
Date of Notice	5 December 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald William Dolmie	Jemima Hall Henderson
BDM Match (98%)	Donald William Tolmie	Jemima Hall Henderson
	💍 1910/7647
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Awamoko	Awamoko
Length of Residence	5 years	30 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of John Henderson, Awamoko
Folio	10/8020
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 December 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Steven

2904

7 December 1910

John William Wiles
Harriet Fricker

Tolan William Miles
Harriet Fricker
💍 1910/7881

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

35
24

Georgetown
Georgetown

4 days
3 weeks

In the residence of George Fricker, Georgetown

10/8169

7 December 1910

Rev. John Perkins

No	2904
Date of Notice	7 December 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Wiles	Harriet Fricker
BDM Match (89%)	Tolan William Miles	Harriet Fricker
	💍 1910/7881
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Georgetown	Georgetown
Length of Residence	4 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	In the residence of George Fricker, Georgetown
Folio	10/8169
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 December 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Perkins

2905

14 December 1910

Willie Lister Sletcher
Mary Elizabeth Lister

Willie Lister
Mary Elizabeth Sletcher
💍 1910/7667

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
20

Ardgowan
Ardgowan

1 year
3 months

In the residence of Mrs. Frances Lister, Ardgowan

10/8025

No one in Dominion having authority to give consent

29 December 1910

Rev. D. H. Roseveare

No	2905
Date of Notice	14 December 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Willie Lister Sletcher	Mary Elizabeth Lister
BDM Match (69%)	Willie Lister	Mary Elizabeth Sletcher
	💍 1910/7667
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Ardgowan	Ardgowan
Length of Residence	1 year	3 months
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mrs. Frances Lister, Ardgowan
Folio	10/8025
Consent	No one in Dominion having authority to give consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Roseveare

2906

15 December 1910

John Mitchell West
Winifred West

John Mitchell
Winifred West
💍 1910/7666

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

26
20

Weston
Weston

About 5 years
20 years

In the residence of James West, Weston

10/8024

James West, Father

15 December 1910

Rev. T. H. Roseveare

No	2906
Date of Notice	15 December 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Mitchell West	Winifred West
BDM Match (86%)	John Mitchell	Winifred West
	💍 1910/7666
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Weston	Weston
Length of Residence	About 5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of James West, Weston
Folio	10/8024
Consent	James West, Father
Date of Certificate	15 December 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. H. Roseveare

2907

16 December 1910

Robert Phair Carter
Margaret Johnstone Prentice

Robert Phair Carter
Margaret Johnston Prentice
💍 1911/1426

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Tailoress

25
24

Oamaru
Dunedin

1 month
24 years

St. Andrew's Church, Dunedin

11/995

16 December 1910

Rev. G. Rutherford Waddell

No	2907
Date of Notice	16 December 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Phair Carter	Margaret Johnstone Prentice
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Phair Carter	Margaret Johnston Prentice
	💍 1911/1426
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Tailoress
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 month	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Dunedin
Folio	11/995
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 December 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Rutherford Waddell

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).