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 3064

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 September 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

4 August 1919

John Forrester
Martha Johnston

John Forrester
Martha Johnston
💍 1919/4458

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

29
27

Maheno
Enfield

7 years
10 years

Residence of John James Johnston, Enfield

6363

4 August 1919

Rev. Archibald G. Irvine, Presbyterian

No	37
Date of Notice	4 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Forrester	Martha Johnston
	💍 1919/4458
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Maheno	Enfield
Length of Residence	7 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John James Johnston, Enfield
Folio	6363
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archibald G. Irvine, Presbyterian

8 August 1919

Henry Dwyer
Eliza Mary Crowley

Henry Diver
Eliza Mary Crowley
💍 1919/4459

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill hand
Tailoress

38
27

Oamaru
Oamaru

38 years
27 years

Roman Catholic Basilica Reed Street Oamaru

6364

8 August 1919

Rev. Daniel O'Connell, Roman Catholic

No	38
Date of Notice	8 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Dwyer	Eliza Mary Crowley
BDM Match (91%)	Henry Diver	Eliza Mary Crowley
	💍 1919/4459
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill hand	Tailoress
Age	38	27
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	38 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica Reed Street Oamaru
Folio	6364
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Daniel O'Connell, Roman Catholic

8 August 1919

John Charles Cleave
Elizabeth Ann Milne

John Charles Cleave
Elizabeth Ann Milne
💍 1919/4460

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

24
23

Oamaru
Oamaru

1 week
1 Year

St Pauls Presbyterian Church Oamaru

6365

8 August 1919

Rev. John Craig, Presbyterian

No	39
Date of Notice	8 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charles Cleave	Elizabeth Ann Milne
	💍 1919/4460
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	1 week	1 Year
Marriage Place	St Pauls Presbyterian Church Oamaru
Folio	6365
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Craig, Presbyterian

20 August 1919

Joseph Shaw Smith
Florence Simpkin

Joseph Shaw Smith
Florence Simkin
💍 1919/4461

Bachelor
Spinster

Stationer
Dressmaker

29
33

Oamaru
Oamaru

29 years
33 years

St Lukes Anglican Church Oamaru

6366

20 August 1919

Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

No	40
Date of Notice	20 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Shaw Smith	Florence Simpkin
BDM Match (97%)	Joseph Shaw Smith	Florence Simkin
	💍 1919/4461
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stationer	Dressmaker
Age	29	33
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	29 years	33 years
Marriage Place	St Lukes Anglican Church Oamaru
Folio	6366
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

26 August 1919

Harold Hill
Rachel Wilkinson

Harold Hill
Rachel Wilkinson
💍 1919/4462

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic duties

37
22

Newborough
Newborough

13 years
5 years

Residence of Hugh McKenzie 28 Itchen Street Oamaru

6367

26 August 1919

Rev. Alexander Watson

No	41
Date of Notice	26 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Hill	Rachel Wilkinson
	💍 1919/4462
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic duties
Age	37	22
Dwelling Place	Newborough	Newborough
Length of Residence	13 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Hugh McKenzie 28 Itchen Street Oamaru
Folio	6367
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexander Watson

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).