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 3065

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar G. G. Chisholm

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

30 August 1919

Leonard Wood
Mary Ellen Hughes

Leonard Wood
Mary Ellen Hughes
💍 1919/4463

Widower
Spinster

Engine fitter
Housekeeper

38
30

Hull Street Oamaru
Oamaru

11 months
16 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru

6368

30 August 1919

G. G. Chisholm Registrar

No	42
Date of Notice	30 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Wood	Mary Ellen Hughes
	💍 1919/4463
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Engine fitter	Housekeeper
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Hull Street Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	11 months	16 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
Folio	6368
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1919
Officiating Minister	G. G. Chisholm Registrar

30 August 1919

John Henderson
Rachel Beatrice Parker

John Henderson
Rachel Beatrice Parker
💍 1919/4464

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Surfaceman
Domestic duties

32
27

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
3 weeks

Residence of William Eunson, Waiareka

6369

30 August 1919

Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

No	43
Date of Notice	30 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henderson	Rachel Beatrice Parker
	💍 1919/4464
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Surfaceman	Domestic duties
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of William Eunson, Waiareka
Folio	6369
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

2 September 1919

William Marshall Don
Anna Manson

William Marshall Don
Anna Manson
💍 1919/7245

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer
Cook

29
26

Windsor
Windsor

20 years
5 years

Residence of Robert Manson, Windsor

6683

2 September 1919

Rev. Archibald G. Irvine

No	44
Date of Notice	2 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Marshall Don	Anna Manson
	💍 1919/7245
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer	Cook
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Windsor	Windsor
Length of Residence	20 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Robert Manson, Windsor
Folio	6683
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archibald G. Irvine

3 September 1919

William Wills
Mary Agnes McRandle

William Wills
Mary Agnes McRandle
💍 1919/4466

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer
Domestic duties

31
26

Elderlie
Windsor

10 years
26 years

Roman Catholic Basilica Reed Street Oamaru

6370

3 September 1919

Rev. Jas. Foley Roman Catholic

No	45
Date of Notice	3 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Wills	Mary Agnes McRandle
	💍 1919/4466
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer	Domestic duties
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Elderlie	Windsor
Length of Residence	10 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica Reed Street Oamaru
Folio	6370
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Foley Roman Catholic

9 September 1919

George Wilfred Clifford Shirley
Myrtle Elma Alice Garrard

George Wilfred Clifford Shirley
Myrtle Unita Alice Garard
💍 1919/4467

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Saleswoman

26
25

Oamaru
Oamaru

4 days
25 years

St. Lukes Church, Thames Street Oamaru

6371

9 September 1919

Rev John D. Russell Church of England

No	46
Date of Notice	9 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Wilfred Clifford Shirley	Myrtle Elma Alice Garrard
BDM Match (90%)	George Wilfred Clifford Shirley	Myrtle Unita Alice Garard
	💍 1919/4467
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Saleswoman
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	4 days	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Church, Thames Street Oamaru
Folio	6371
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev John D. Russell Church of England

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).