Intentions to Marry, 1920 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840495, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1920 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1920h contains pages 3441-3864, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 3553

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 March 1920 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

6 January 1920

James Angus
Annie Maud Mitchell

James Angus
Annie Maud Mitchell
💍 1920/5407

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

34
23

Reidston (Maheno - usual)
Reidston

3 days
23 years

Residence of Richard Tarbet Mitchell, Reidston

2941

6 January 1920

Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Angus	Annie Maud Mitchell
	💍 1920/5407
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Reidston (Maheno - usual)	Reidston
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Richard Tarbet Mitchell, Reidston
Folio	2941
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

7 January 1920

James Noel Edgar
Millie Thompson Whillans

James Noel Edgar
Millie Thompson Whillans
💍 1920/5408

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical practitioner (Member of N.Z. Expeditionary Force)
Domestic duties

26
26

Oamaru
Oamaru

2 days
18 years

Residence of Henry Whillans, 10 Reed Street, Oamaru

2942

7 January 1920

Rev. John Alexander Lochore (Methodist)

No	2
Date of Notice	7 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Noel Edgar	Millie Thompson Whillans
	💍 1920/5408
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical practitioner (Member of N.Z. Expeditionary Force)	Domestic duties
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	2 days	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Henry Whillans, 10 Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	2942
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Alexander Lochore (Methodist)

12 January 1920

Ronald Maddigan
Elizabeth Jane Buick

Ronald Maddigan
Elizabeth Jane Buick
💍 1920/5409

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Servant

22
23

Oamaru
Oamaru

20 years
4 years

Residence of Mr W. Robson, Trent Street, Oamaru

2943

12 January 1920

Rev. Alexander Watson, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	12 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Maddigan	Elizabeth Jane Buick
	💍 1920/5409
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Servant
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	20 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr W. Robson, Trent Street, Oamaru
Folio	2943
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexander Watson, Presbyterian

27 January 1920

Albert Barrett
Bertha Elija Watts

Albert Berrett
Bertha Eliza Watts
💍 1920/5410

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housemaid

32
28

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
9 years

St. Luke's Anglican Church, Oamaru

2944

27 January 1920

Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	27 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Barrett	Bertha Elija Watts
BDM Match (94%)	Albert Berrett	Bertha Eliza Watts
	💍 1920/5410
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housemaid
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Anglican Church, Oamaru
Folio	2944
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

28 January 1920

John William Coker
Jane Robb

John William Coker
Jane Robb
💍 1920/5411

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach painter
Machinist

35
34

Oamaru
Oamaru

1 year
5 days

Church of Christ, Eden Street, Oamaru

2945

28 January 1920

Henry P. Leng, Church of Christ

No	5
Date of Notice	28 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Coker	Jane Robb
	💍 1920/5411
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach painter	Machinist
Age	35	34
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	1 year	5 days
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Eden Street, Oamaru
Folio	2945
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Henry P. Leng, Church of Christ

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).