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 3567

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar B. B. 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

14 July 1920

Thomas Armstrong
Sarah Mary Simpson

Thomas Armstrong
Sarah Mary Simpson
💍 1920/9031

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

38
36

Papakaio
Papakaio

3 days
8 years

Residence of Thomas Simpson, Walworth, Papakaio

9013

14 July 1920

Rev. Walker McLean, Presbyterian

No	65
Date of Notice	14 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Armstrong	Sarah Mary Simpson
	💍 1920/9031
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	38	36
Dwelling Place	Papakaio	Papakaio
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Thomas Simpson, Walworth, Papakaio
Folio	9013
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walker McLean, Presbyterian

16 July 1920

William Carmichael Marshall
Williamina Smith

William Carmichael Marshall
Williamina Smith
💍 1920/9013

Widower (9th September 1917)
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

43
41

Enfield
Oamaru

20 years
4 years

Residence of Bridegroom, Awameka Farm, Enfield

9014

16 July 1920

Rev William Saunders, Congregational

No	66
Date of Notice	16 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Carmichael Marshall	Williamina Smith
	💍 1920/9013
Condition	Widower (9th September 1917)	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	43	41
Dwelling Place	Enfield	Oamaru
Length of Residence	20 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bridegroom, Awameka Farm, Enfield
Folio	9014
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev William Saunders, Congregational

20 July 1920

Eric Harold Watson
Elizabeth Rennie Cochrane

Eric Harold Watson
Elizabeth Rennie Cochrane
💍 1920/9014

Bachelor
Spinster

farm labourer
Domestic

24
27

Oamaru
Awamoko

15 years
5 years

St. Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

9015

20 July 1920

Rev. Walker McLean, Presbyterian

No	67
Date of Notice	20 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Harold Watson	Elizabeth Rennie Cochrane
	💍 1920/9014
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farm labourer	Domestic
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Awamoko
Length of Residence	15 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	9015
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walker McLean, Presbyterian

21 July 1920

Kingsley Ian Clarkson
Ethel Constance Reed

Wensley Ian Clarkson
Ethel Constance Reid
💍 1920/9016

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep farmer
Domestic duties

31
21

Oamaru
Maheno

4 days
14 years

St. Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

9017

21 July 1920

Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	68
Date of Notice	21 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kingsley Ian Clarkson	Ethel Constance Reed
BDM Match (90%)	Wensley Ian Clarkson	Ethel Constance Reid
	💍 1920/9016
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep farmer	Domestic duties
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Maheno
Length of Residence	4 days	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	9017
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

22 July 1920

Herbert Stuart Norton
Margaret Lucy Whyte

Herbert Stuart Norton
Margaret Lucy Whyte
💍 1920/9015

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

27
28

Papakaio
Papakaio

7 years
28 years

Residence of Charles Whyte, Aln Street, Oamaru

9016

22 July 1920

Rev. Walker McLean, Presbyterian

No	69
Date of Notice	22 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Stuart Norton	Margaret Lucy Whyte
	💍 1920/9015
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Papakaio	Papakaio
Length of Residence	7 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Charles Whyte, Aln Street, Oamaru
Folio	9016
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walker McLean, 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).