Intentions to Marry, 1919 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840487, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1919 is bound in seven volumes (a to g) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1919g contains pages 2943-3338, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 3055

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar A. H. Carrad

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

4 January 1919

George Rowland Borwick
Minnie Alington

George Rouland Borwick
Minnie Allington
💍 1919/2017

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's assistant
Domestic duties

23
22

Oamaru
Pukeuri

6 years
5 years

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

1547

4 January 1919

Rev. A. L. Macdonald Aspland, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Rowland Borwick	Minnie Alington
BDM Match (95%)	George Rouland Borwick	Minnie Allington
	💍 1919/2017
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's assistant	Domestic duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Pukeuri
Length of Residence	6 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	1547
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. L. Macdonald Aspland, Presbyterian

8 January 1919

John Ernest Price
Jane Ann Watson

John Ernest Price
Jane Ann Watson
💍 1919/2018

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
Domestic duties

39
24

Ngapara
Ngapara

7 years
24 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru

1548

8 January 1919

Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru

No	2
Date of Notice	8 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ernest Price	Jane Ann Watson
	💍 1919/2018
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	Domestic duties
Age	39	24
Dwelling Place	Ngapara	Ngapara
Length of Residence	7 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
Folio	1548
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru

25 January 1919

Murdoch Macrae
Margaret McNaught Frame

Murdoch MacRae
Margaret McNaught Frame
💍 1919/2019

Widower
Spinster

Coal miner
Wool weaver

38
31

Oamaru
Oamaru

4 days
2 years

Dwelling of James Cairns, Newborough

1549

25 January 1919

Rev. Joseph Lawson Robinson, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	25 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Murdoch Macrae	Margaret McNaught Frame
BDM Match (96%)	Murdoch MacRae	Margaret McNaught Frame
	💍 1919/2019
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Coal miner	Wool weaver
Age	38	31
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	4 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of James Cairns, Newborough
Folio	1549
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Joseph Lawson Robinson, Presbyterian

31 January 1919

Archibald Thomson
Margaret Mary Scothon

Archiable Thomson
Margaret Mary Scothon
💍 1919/2020

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrical Engineer
Domestic duties

23
21

Oamaru
Oamaru

5 months
7 years

Columba Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

1550

31 January 1919

Rev. Joseph Lawson Robinson, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	31 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Thomson	Margaret Mary Scothon
BDM Match (91%)	Archiable Thomson	Margaret Mary Scothon
	💍 1919/2020
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrical Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	5 months	7 years
Marriage Place	Columba Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	1550
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Joseph Lawson Robinson, Presbyterian

10 February 1919

James Francis Gibson
Ethel Mitchell

James Francis Gibson
Ethel Mitchell
💍 1919/1803

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Milliner

25
21

Oamaru
Oamaru

2 years
21 years

Residence of John Thomas Mitchell, Oamaru

1551

10 February 1919

Rev. Joseph Lawson Robinson, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	10 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Francis Gibson	Ethel Mitchell
	💍 1919/1803
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Milliner
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	2 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Thomas Mitchell, Oamaru
Folio	1551
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Joseph Lawson Robinson, 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).