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 3056

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar J. T. Canad

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

13 February 1919

Frederick Ridley Denham
Charlotte Grant Newman

Frederick Ridley Dennison
Charlotte Grant Newman
💍 1919/1814

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanical Engineer
Clerk

38
21

Oamaru
Oamaru

20 years
21 years

St Luke's Anglican Church, Oamaru

1552

13 February 1919

Rev. David Jamieson, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	13 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Ridley Denham	Charlotte Grant Newman
BDM Match (90%)	Frederick Ridley Dennison	Charlotte Grant Newman
	💍 1919/1814
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanical Engineer	Clerk
Age	38	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	20 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St Luke's Anglican Church, Oamaru
Folio	1552
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Jamieson, Church of England

13 February 1919

Charles MacKenzie
Lottie Violet Maynard

Charles MacKenzie
Lottie Violet Maynard
💍 1919/1821

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

28
27

Oamaru
Oamaru

2 1/2 years
15 years

Dwellinghouse of George Thomas Maynard, 33 Eden St Oamaru

1553

13 February 1919

Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	13 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles MacKenzie	Lottie Violet Maynard
	💍 1919/1821
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of George Thomas Maynard, 33 Eden St Oamaru
Folio	1553
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

26 February 1919

Andrew Bell Barr
Jessie Fergusson Stevenson

Andrew Bell Barr
Jessie Ferguson Stevenson
💍 1919/1822

Widower 27-12-08
Spinster

Seaman
Domestic Duties

34
32

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
1 month

Residence of Mrs J. Stevenson, Ure Street, Oamaru

1554

26 February 1919

Rev. William Wright, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	26 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Bell Barr	Jessie Fergusson Stevenson
BDM Match (98%)	Andrew Bell Barr	Jessie Ferguson Stevenson
	💍 1919/1822
Condition	Widower 27-12-08	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Domestic Duties
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs J. Stevenson, Ure Street, Oamaru
Folio	1554
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Wright, Presbyterian

28 February 1919

George William Taplin
Eva Hammill

George William Taplin
Eva Hammill
💍 1919/1823

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine cleaner
Weaver

32
29

Palmerston Junction
Oamaru

7 months
29 years

St Luke's Anglican Church, Oamaru

1555

28 February 1919

Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	28 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Taplin	Eva Hammill
	💍 1919/1823
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine cleaner	Weaver
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Palmerston Junction	Oamaru
Length of Residence	7 months	29 years
Marriage Place	St Luke's Anglican Church, Oamaru
Folio	1555
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

3 March 1919

Thomas Bentley Ambler
Christina McClea

Thomas Bently Ambler
Christina McClea
💍 1919/1824

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

36
30

Windsor
Ardgowan

36 years
30 years

Presbyterian Church, Ardgowan

1556

3 March 1919

Rev. Alexander Watson, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	3 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Bentley Ambler	Christina McClea
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Bently Ambler	Christina McClea
	💍 1919/1824
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Windsor	Ardgowan
Length of Residence	36 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Ardgowan
Folio	1556
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexander Watson, 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).