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 3068

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

21 October 1919

Pearce Hennessy
Beryl Mansell

Pearce Fennessy
Bina Mansell
💍 1919/9539

Bachelor
Spinster

Flour Mill Employee
Tailoress

24
28

Oamaru
Awamoa, Oamaru

5 years
20 years

Residence of T. Mansell, Awamoa, Oamaru

9310

21 October 1919

Rev. Daniel O'Connell, Roman Catholic

No	57
Date of Notice	21 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Pearce Hennessy	Beryl Mansell
BDM Match (81%)	Pearce Fennessy	Bina Mansell
	💍 1919/9539
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Flour Mill Employee	Tailoress
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Awamoa, Oamaru
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of T. Mansell, Awamoa, Oamaru
Folio	9310
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Daniel O'Connell, Roman Catholic

21 October 1919

Frederick Dumbleton
Elizabeth Mary Taylor

Frederick Dumbleton
Elizabeth Mary Taylor
💍 1919/9517

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Saleswoman

31
21

Pukeuri
Oamaru

31 years
21 years

St Lukes Anglican Church, Oamaru

9311

21 October 1919

Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

No	58
Date of Notice	21 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Dumbleton	Elizabeth Mary Taylor
	💍 1919/9517
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Saleswoman
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Pukeuri	Oamaru
Length of Residence	31 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St Lukes Anglican Church, Oamaru
Folio	9311
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

22 October 1919

Peter Joseph Hughes
Eliza Gordon

Peter Joseph Hughes
Eliza Gordon
💍 1919/9518

Widower 25/10/1915
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

40
25

Oamaru
Oamaru

18 years
2 years

St Lukes Anglican Church, Oamaru

9312

22 October 1919

Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

No	59
Date of Notice	22 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Joseph Hughes	Eliza Gordon
	💍 1919/9518
Condition	Widower 25/10/1915	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	40	25
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	18 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Lukes Anglican Church, Oamaru
Folio	9312
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

24 October 1919

Harry Calder
Elizabeth Ramsay

Harry Calder
Elizabeth Ramsay
💍 1919/9519

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Domestic duties

38
30

Oamaru
Oamaru

38 years
26 years

Residence of James Robertson, Greta Street, Oamaru

9313

24 October 1919

Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

No	60
Date of Notice	24 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Calder	Elizabeth Ramsay
	💍 1919/9519
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Domestic duties
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	38 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of James Robertson, Greta Street, Oamaru
Folio	9313
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

24 October 1919

John Claes
Mary Theresa Connolly

John Glass
Mary Theresa Connolly
💍 1919/9520

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Domestic

39
34

Oamaru (Usual Matata)
Oamaru

3 days
34 years

Residence of Mr W. M. Diarmid, Trent Street, Oamaru

9314

24 October 1919

Rev. Daniel O'Connell, Roman Catholic

No	61
Date of Notice	24 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Claes	Mary Theresa Connolly
BDM Match (90%)	John Glass	Mary Theresa Connolly
	💍 1919/9520
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic
Age	39	34
Dwelling Place	Oamaru (Usual Matata)	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	34 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr W. M. Diarmid, Trent Street, Oamaru
Folio	9314
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Daniel O'Connell, 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).