Intentions to Marry, 1911 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840447, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1911 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, (1911a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1911b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1911c).

Page 726

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 March 1911 Registrar Alexander Adam Myer

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

2919

20 February 1911

Vivian Everet Doran
Marion Grosset Paterson

Vivian Everett Doran
Marion Grossett Paterson
💍 1911/2323

Bachelor
Spinster

Tinsmith
Domestic Servant

22
22

Oamaru
South Oamaru

2 1/3 years
2 years

In the residence of George Paterson South Oamaru

11/1673

20 February 1911

Rev. Wm Wright

No	2919
Date of Notice	20 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vivian Everet Doran	Marion Grosset Paterson
BDM Match (95%)	Vivian Everett Doran	Marion Grossett Paterson
	💍 1911/2323
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tinsmith	Domestic Servant
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	South Oamaru
Length of Residence	2 1/3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of George Paterson South Oamaru
Folio	11/1673
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Wright

2920

21 February 1911

Thomas McCutcheon
Elizabeth Mills

Thomas McCutcheon
Elizabeth Mills
💍 1911/2322

Widower
Spinster

Railway Surfaceman

30
24

Oamaru
Oamaru

8 years
5 years

at the residence of William David McCutcheon Greta Street Oamaru

11/1672

21 February 1911

Rev. Wm Wright

No	2920
Date of Notice	21 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas McCutcheon	Elizabeth Mills
	💍 1911/2322
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Railway Surfaceman
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	8 years	5 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of William David McCutcheon Greta Street Oamaru
Folio	11/1672
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Wright

2921

22 February 1911

Alfred James Foss
Mary Margaret Magee

Alfred James Foss
Mary Margaret Magee
💍 1911/1925

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Dressmaker

30
29

Oamaru
Oamaru

30 years
29 years

at the Roman Catholic Church Oamaru

11/1452

22 February 1911

Rev. Monsignor John Mackay

No	2921
Date of Notice	22 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred James Foss	Mary Margaret Magee
	💍 1911/1925
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Dressmaker
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	30 years	29 years
Marriage Place	at the Roman Catholic Church Oamaru
Folio	11/1452
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. Monsignor John Mackay

2922

25 February 1911

Richard Tarbet Mitchell
Lynda Fredrica Byers

Richard Tarbet Mitchell
Lynda Frederica Byers
💍 1911/864

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

23
18

Reidston
Reidston

23 years
18 years

At the residence of Richard Byers Reidston

11/1189

Richard Byers Father

25 February 1911

Rev. H. Davis

No	2922
Date of Notice	25 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Tarbet Mitchell	Lynda Fredrica Byers
BDM Match (98%)	Richard Tarbet Mitchell	Lynda Frederica Byers
	💍 1911/864
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Reidston	Reidston
Length of Residence	23 years	18 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Richard Byers Reidston
Folio	11/1189
Consent	Richard Byers Father
Date of Certificate	25 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Davis

2923

27 February 1911

Frederick Charles de Lambert
Evelyn Stenhouse Orr

Frederick Charles de Lambert
Evelyn Stenhouse Orr
💍 1911/1769

Bachelor
Spinster

Teamerchant

29
21

Oamaru
Duntroon

25 years
3 days

St Luke's Church Oamaru

11/1317

27 February 1911

Rev. T. C. Burgess

No	2923
Date of Notice	27 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Charles de Lambert	Evelyn Stenhouse Orr
	💍 1911/1769
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teamerchant
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Duntroon
Length of Residence	25 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church Oamaru
Folio	11/1317
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. C. Burgess

2924

28 February 1911

Gustaf Adolf Holmqvist
Harenina Lee

Gustauf Adolf Holmquist
Haremina Lee
💍 1911/1970

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman

38
27

Oamaru
Oamaru

2 months
5 months

at the residence of Mr Thomas Lee, Ure Street Oamaru

11/1498

28 February 1911

Rev. F. G. Buckingham

No	2924
Date of Notice	28 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gustaf Adolf Holmqvist	Harenina Lee
BDM Match (92%)	Gustauf Adolf Holmquist	Haremina Lee
	💍 1911/1970
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman
Age	38	27
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	2 months	5 months
Marriage Place	at the residence of Mr Thomas Lee, Ure Street Oamaru
Folio	11/1498
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. G. Buckingham

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).