Intentions to Marry, 1918 Rangiora to Chatham Islands (includes Otago)

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840480, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1918 is bound in six volumes (a to f) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1918f contains pages 2189-2777, covering districts from Rangiora to Chatham Islands (includes Otago)

Page 2531

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 1918 Registrar H. Barron

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

7 October 1918

George Waller Sherwin
Lena May Rook

George Walter Sherwin
Lena May Rook
💍 1918/3489

Widower 22/10/08
Spinster

Watchmaker
Shop assistant

39
23

Oamaru
Oamaru

34 years
2 years

Residence of Charles Sherwin, Mersey Street, Oamaru

6133

7 October 1918

Rev. John A. Lochore, Methodist

No	24
Date of Notice	7 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Waller Sherwin	Lena May Rook
BDM Match (98%)	George Walter Sherwin	Lena May Rook
	💍 1918/3489
Condition	Widower 22/10/08	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker	Shop assistant
Age	39	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	34 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Charles Sherwin, Mersey Street, Oamaru
Folio	6133
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. John A. Lochore, Methodist

7 October 1918

Andrew McLeay
Agnes Muriel Townsley

Andrew McLeay
Agnes Muriel Townsley
💍 1918/6422

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Dressmaker

36
32

Featherston
Reidston

10 days
3 years

St. Luke's Anglican Church, Oamaru

6134

7 October 1918

Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

No	25
Date of Notice	7 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew McLeay	Agnes Muriel Townsley
	💍 1918/6422
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Dressmaker
Age	36	32
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Reidston
Length of Residence	10 days	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Anglican Church, Oamaru
Folio	6134
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

8 October 1918

Arthur John Oats
Ethel Mary Perry Graves

Arthur John Oats
Ethel Mary Perry Graves
💍 1918/6423

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
Domestic duties

21
23

Awamoa
Awamoa

21 years
10 months

Methodist Church, Eden Street, Oamaru

6135

8 October 1918

Rev. John Alexander Lochore, Methodist

No	26
Date of Notice	8 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur John Oats	Ethel Mary Perry Graves
	💍 1918/6423
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	Domestic duties
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Awamoa	Awamoa
Length of Residence	21 years	10 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Eden Street, Oamaru
Folio	6135
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Alexander Lochore, Methodist

14 October 1918

Patrick Henry McGrath
Annie Josephine Lavery

Patrick Henry McGrath
Annie Josephine Lavery
💍 1918/6424

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Waitress

33
30

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
2 years

Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru

6136

14 October 1918

Rev. James Foley, Roman Catholic

No	27
Date of Notice	14 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Henry McGrath	Annie Josephine Lavery
	💍 1918/6424
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Waitress
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	6136
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Foley, Roman Catholic

22 October 1918

Thomas Joseph Dobson
Charlotte Montgomery

Thomas Joseph Dobson
Charlotte Montgomery
💍 1918/6403

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

33
23

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
28 years

Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru

6137

22 October 1918

Rev. James Foley, Roman Catholic

No	28
Date of Notice	22 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Joseph Dobson	Charlotte Montgomery
	💍 1918/6403
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	6137
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Foley, Roman Catholic

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).