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 3072

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

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

18 December 1919

Sydney Charles Austin
Lucy Pearl Allom

Sydney Charles Austin
Lucy Pearl Allom
💍 1919/9222

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Domestic Duties

28
24

Oamaru
Wanganui

7 years
2 weeks

Presbyterian Church

8950

18 December 1919

Rev. George Washington Blair, Presbyterian

No	77
Date of Notice	18 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Charles Austin	Lucy Pearl Allom
	💍 1919/9222
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Domestic Duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Wanganui
Length of Residence	7 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	8950
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Washington Blair, Presbyterian

24 December 1919

David Jack Oliver
Olive May Moss

David Jack Oliver
Olive May Moss
💍 1919/9585

Bachelor
Spinster

Tweed designer
Clerk

30
32

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
32 years

St. Lukes Anglican Church Oamaru

9330

24 December 1919

Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

No	78
Date of Notice	24 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Jack Oliver	Olive May Moss
	💍 1919/9585
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tweed designer	Clerk
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	32 years
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Anglican Church Oamaru
Folio	9330
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

24 December 1919

Robert Smith
Olive Victoria Piercy

Robert Smith
Olive Victoria Piercy
💍 1919/9586

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
Darner Woollen Mills

31
22

Oamaru
Oamaru

14 years
22 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages Oamaru

9331

24 December 1919

Alexander Jarvis, Deputy Registrar

No	79
Date of Notice	24 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Smith	Olive Victoria Piercy
	💍 1919/9586
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Darner Woollen Mills
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	14 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages Oamaru
Folio	9331
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Alexander Jarvis, Deputy Registrar

29 December 1919

James Heggie McKenzie
Alice Howland

James Heggie McKenzie
Alice Howland
💍 1919/9587

Widower 1-1-19
Widow 28-10-94

Builder
Domestic duties

70
55

Oamaru
Oamaru

40 years
30 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages Oamaru

9332

29 December 1919

Alexander Jarvis, Deputy Registrar

No	80
Date of Notice	29 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Heggie McKenzie	Alice Howland
	💍 1919/9587
Condition	Widower 1-1-19	Widow 28-10-94
Profession	Builder	Domestic duties
Age	70	55
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	40 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages Oamaru
Folio	9332
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Alexander Jarvis, Deputy Registrar

27 December 1919

Robert Simpson McNaught
Louisa Moodie

Robert Simpson McNaught
Louisa Moodie
💍 1919/9588

Widower 13-6-11
Spinster

Cutter
Music teacher

44
43

Oamaru (usual Dunedin)
Oamaru

3 days
36 years

Columba Presbyterian Church Oamaru

9333

27 December 1919

Rev. William Wright, Presbyterian

No	81
Date of Notice	27 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Simpson McNaught	Louisa Moodie
	💍 1919/9588
Condition	Widower 13-6-11	Spinster
Profession	Cutter	Music teacher
Age	44	43
Dwelling Place	Oamaru (usual Dunedin)	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	36 years
Marriage Place	Columba Presbyterian Church Oamaru
Folio	9333
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Wright, 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).