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 3555

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar B. B. Nicholson

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

26 February 1920

John Archibald Dalgleish Milne
Annie Winifred Gemmell

John Archibald Dalgleish Milne
Annie Winifred Gemmell
💍 1920/5418

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic duties

43
27

Waimote, Maheno
Oamaru

24 years
9 months

Residence of Mrs Mary Gemmell, Wharf Street, Oamaru

2951

26 February 1920

Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

No	11
Date of Notice	26 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Archibald Dalgleish Milne	Annie Winifred Gemmell
	💍 1920/5418
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic duties
Age	43	27
Dwelling Place	Waimote, Maheno	Oamaru
Length of Residence	24 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Mary Gemmell, Wharf Street, Oamaru
Folio	2951
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

1 March 1920

Frederick Oswald Martin
Nellie Sinclair

Frederick Oswald Martin
Nellie Sinclair
💍 1920/5419

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk
Milliner

27
25

Gore
Oamaru

1 1/2 years
2 weeks

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

2952

1 March 1920

Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

No	12
Date of Notice	1 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Oswald Martin	Nellie Sinclair
	💍 1920/5419
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk	Milliner
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Gore	Oamaru
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	2952
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

2 March 1920

Albert John Philp
Margaret Harvey

Albert John Philp
Margaret Harvey
💍 1920/5420

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist's Assistant
Domestic

33
21

Oamaru
Oamaru

25 years
21 years

Northern Hotel, Tyne Street, Oamaru

2953

2 March 1920

Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

No	13
Date of Notice	2 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert John Philp	Margaret Harvey
	💍 1920/5420
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist's Assistant	Domestic
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	25 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Northern Hotel, Tyne Street, Oamaru
Folio	2953
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

12 March 1920

David Jack
Margaret Esther Hastings

David Jack
Margaret Esther Hastings
💍 1920/2211

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
School teacher

37
33

Pukeuri
Dunedin

6 years
33 years

Holy Cross Chapel, Dunedin

1994

12 March 1920

Rev. Albert Wingfield, Church of England

No	14
Date of Notice	12 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Jack	Margaret Esther Hastings
	💍 1920/2211
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	School teacher
Age	37	33
Dwelling Place	Pukeuri	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 years	33 years
Marriage Place	Holy Cross Chapel, Dunedin
Folio	1994
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Albert Wingfield, Church of England

13 March 1920

John Charles Dale
Gwendoline Victoria Richmond

John Charles Dale
Gwendoline Victoria Richmond
💍 1920/5421

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Librarian

34
33

Oamaru
Oamaru

34 years
33 years

Residence of John Dale, North Road, Oamaru

2954

13 March 1920

Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	13 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charles Dale	Gwendoline Victoria Richmond
	💍 1920/5421
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Librarian
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	34 years	33 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Dale, North Road, Oamaru
Folio	2954
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, 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).