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 3069

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

24 October 1919

Thomas Gemmell
Jane Thomson Minty

Thomas Gemmell
Jane Thomson Minty
💍 1919/9521

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

38
30

Oamaru
Kakanui

6 months
30 years

Residence of William Minty, Kakanui

9315

24 October 1919

Rev. Peter Clarkson Rennie, Presbyterian

No	62
Date of Notice	24 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Gemmell	Jane Thomson Minty
	💍 1919/9521
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Kakanui
Length of Residence	6 months	30 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Minty, Kakanui
Folio	9315
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Peter Clarkson Rennie, Presbyterian

25 October 1919

Alexander John Miller
Winifred Evelyn Perkins

Alexander John Miller
Winifred Evelyn Perkins
💍 1919/9522

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician
Tailoress

21
23

Oamaru
Oamaru

4 days
7 days

Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru

9316

25 October 1919

Rev. James Foley, Roman Catholic

No	63
Date of Notice	25 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander John Miller	Winifred Evelyn Perkins
	💍 1919/9522
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician	Tailoress
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	4 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	9316
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Foley, Roman Catholic

28 October 1919

Alexander Smillie Miller
Mary Helen Barclay

Alexander Smillie Miller
Mary Helen Barclay
💍 1919/9523

Alexander McKinlay
Mary Ann Barclay
💍 1919/1978

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Domestic duties

38
40

Oamaru
Oamaru

9 months
40 years

Residence of John Barclay, Eden Street, Oamaru

9317

28 October 1919

Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

No	64
Date of Notice	28 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Smillie Miller	Mary Helen Barclay
	💍 1919/9523
BDM Match (64%)	Alexander McKinlay	Mary Ann Barclay
	💍 1919/1978
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Domestic duties
Age	38	40
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	9 months	40 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Barclay, Eden Street, Oamaru
Folio	9317
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

28 October 1919

Thomas Alfred Robertson
Martha Jane Dowrey

Thomas Alfred Robertson
Martha Jane Lowrey
💍 1919/9524

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

27
28

Enfield
Enfield

4 days
28 years

Residence of William Marshall, Awamoa Farm, Enfield

9318

28 October 1919

Rev. Archibald G. Irvine, Presbyterian

No	65
Date of Notice	28 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Alfred Robertson	Martha Jane Dowrey
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Alfred Robertson	Martha Jane Lowrey
	💍 1919/9524
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Enfield	Enfield
Length of Residence	4 days	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Marshall, Awamoa Farm, Enfield
Folio	9318
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archibald G. Irvine, Presbyterian

4 November 1919

James Reidy
Susanne Cooney

James Reidy
Susanne Cooney
💍 1919/9525

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

32
30

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
30 years

Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru

9319

4 November 1919

Rev. James Foley, Roman Catholic

No	66
Date of Notice	4 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Reidy	Susanne Cooney
	💍 1919/9525
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	9319
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1919
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).