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 3067

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar S. S. 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

7 October 1919

James Chisholm
Amy Jane Field

James Chisholm
Mary Jane Field
💍 1919/9535

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock buyer
Nurse

45
35

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
3 months

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

9305

7 October 1919

Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

No	52
Date of Notice	7 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Chisholm	Amy Jane Field
BDM Match (90%)	James Chisholm	Mary Jane Field
	💍 1919/9535
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock buyer	Nurse
Age	45	35
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	9305
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

14 October 1919

Ernest Preece Godsall
Isabella Lindsay Fraser

Ernest Preece Godsall
Isabella Lindsay Fraser
💍 1919/9536

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Surfaceman
Domestic duties

25
29

Peebles
Peebles

25 years
29 years

Residence of Peter Fraser, Peebles

9306

14 October 1919

Rev. George William Hunt, Presbyterian

No	53
Date of Notice	14 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Preece Godsall	Isabella Lindsay Fraser
	💍 1919/9536
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Surfaceman	Domestic duties
Age	25	29
Dwelling Place	Peebles	Peebles
Length of Residence	25 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Peter Fraser, Peebles
Folio	9306
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. George William Hunt, Presbyterian

17 October 1919

Leonard Winsley
Margaret Ann Dunne

Leonard Winsley
Margaret Ann Dunner
💍 1919/9537

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Housemaid

28
26

Waiareka
Totara

28 years
26 years

Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru

9307

17 October 1919

Rev. Daniel O'Connell, Roman Catholic

No	54
Date of Notice	17 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Winsley	Margaret Ann Dunne
BDM Match (97%)	Leonard Winsley	Margaret Ann Dunner
	💍 1919/9537
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Housemaid
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Waiareka	Totara
Length of Residence	28 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	9307
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Daniel O'Connell, Roman Catholic

17 October 1919

Edward Barnes
Mary Alexina Macdonald

Edward Barnes
Mary Alexina Macdonald
💍 1919/5192

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic duties

24
21

Oamaru
Oamaru

7 weeks
7 weeks

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru

9308

17 October 1919

George Galloway Chisholm, Registrar

No	55
Date of Notice	17 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Barnes	Mary Alexina Macdonald
	💍 1919/5192
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	7 weeks	7 weeks
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
Folio	9308
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1919
Officiating Minister	George Galloway Chisholm, Registrar

21 October 1919

Austin Ashley Andrews
Alice Elizabeth Phillips Kent

Austin Ashley Andrews
Alice Elizabeth Phillips Kent
💍 1919/9538

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Clerk

28
24

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
11 years

St. Luke's Anglican Church, Oamaru

9309

21 October 1919

Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

No	56
Date of Notice	21 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Austin Ashley Andrews	Alice Elizabeth Phillips Kent
	💍 1919/9538
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Clerk
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Anglican Church, Oamaru
Folio	9309
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Delacourt 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).