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 3557

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar G. G. 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

24 March 1920

Alexander Frank Gray
Mabel Katherine Ross

Alexander Frank Gray
Mabel Hatherly Ross
💍 1920/3950

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman N.Z.R.
Domestic duties

27
23

Oamaru
Oamaru

27 years
23 years

Residence of Harry Ross, Arun Street, Oamaru

2959

24 March 1920

Rev. Walter McLean, Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	24 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Frank Gray	Mabel Katherine Ross
BDM Match (90%)	Alexander Frank Gray	Mabel Hatherly Ross
	💍 1920/3950
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman N.Z.R.	Domestic duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	27 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Harry Ross, Arun Street, Oamaru
Folio	2959
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter McLean, Presbyterian

27 March 1920

George William Curtis Lee
Elsie Jackman

George William Curtis Lee
Elsie Jackman
💍 1920/3951

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic duties

31
28

Oamaru
Reidston

7 weeks
28 years

St. Lukes Anglican Church, Oamaru

2960

27 March 1920

Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

No	22
Date of Notice	27 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Curtis Lee	Elsie Jackman
	💍 1920/3951
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic duties
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Reidston
Length of Residence	7 weeks	28 years
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Anglican Church, Oamaru
Folio	2960
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

29 March 1920

Hector Campbell MacKenzie
Martha Ruth Lindsay

Hector Campbell MacKenzie
Martha Ruth Lindsay
💍 1920/5444

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic duties

30
31

Oamaru
Invercargill

2 months
30 years

Residence of Rachel Lindsay, 30 Thomson Street, Invercargill

3098

29 March 1920

Rev. Alfred Peters, Methodist

No	23
Date of Notice	29 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hector Campbell MacKenzie	Martha Ruth Lindsay
	💍 1920/5444
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 months	30 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rachel Lindsay, 30 Thomson Street, Invercargill
Folio	3098
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Peters, Methodist

31 March 1920

William James Wall
Elizabeth West Buchanan Christison

William James Wall
Elizabeth West Buchanan Christison
💍 1920/3952

Widower 19/12/18
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

44
26

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
3 months

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru

2961

31 March 1920

G. G. Chisholm, Registrar

No	24
Date of Notice	31 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Wall	Elizabeth West Buchanan Christison
	💍 1920/3952
Condition	Widower 19/12/18	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	44	26
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
Folio	2961
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1920
Officiating Minister	G. G. Chisholm, Registrar

31 March 1920

George Pheloung
Ethel Elizabeth Townsley

George Pheloung
Ethel Elizabeth Townsley
💍 1920/3953

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Dressmaker

41
36

Ardgowan
Oamaru

41 years
36 years

Residence of Frederick Townsley, France Street, Oamaru

2962

31 March 1920

Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

No	25
Date of Notice	31 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Pheloung	Ethel Elizabeth Townsley
	💍 1920/3953
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Dressmaker
Age	41	36
Dwelling Place	Ardgowan	Oamaru
Length of Residence	41 years	36 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Frederick Townsley, France Street, Oamaru
Folio	2962
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

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).