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 3573

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 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

2 October 1920

Henry Scott Fraser
Jane Sharp West

Henry Scott Fraser
Jane Sharp West
💍 1920/9790

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

24
22

Airedale
Airedale

24 years
22 years

Residence of Edward West, Airedale

11906

2 October 1920

Rev. Walter W. Dean, Presbyterian

No	86
Date of Notice	2 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Scott Fraser	Jane Sharp West
	💍 1920/9790
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Airedale	Airedale
Length of Residence	24 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Edward West, Airedale
Folio	11906
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter W. Dean, Presbyterian

4 October 1920

William Cornelius O'Donnell
Kathleen Mary Healy

William Cornelius O'Donnell
Kathleen Mary Healy
💍 1920/9791

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic

24
23

Oamaru
Deborah, Oamaru

24 years
23 years

Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru

11907

4 October 1920

Rev. James Foley, Roman Catholic

No	87
Date of Notice	4 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cornelius O'Donnell	Kathleen Mary Healy
	💍 1920/9791
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Deborah, Oamaru
Length of Residence	24 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	11907
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Foley, Roman Catholic

8 October 1920

Donald Miller
Clara Franklin

Donald Miller
Clara Franklin
💍 1920/9792

Bachelor
Spinster

Cycle Engineer
Domestic Duties

43
36

Oamaru
Oamaru

43 years
36 years

Residence of John Franklin, South Oamaru

11908

8 October 1920

Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

No	88
Date of Notice	8 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Miller	Clara Franklin
	💍 1920/9792
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cycle Engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	43	36
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	43 years	36 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Franklin, South Oamaru
Folio	11908
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

8 October 1920

Andrew Cochrane Stevenson
Jean Catherine Tripp

Andrew Cochrane Stevenson
Jean Catherine Tripp
💍 1920/9793

Bachelor
Spinster

Watchmaker
Domestic Duties

25
21

Oamaru
Oamaru

1 year
21 years

Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru

11909

8 October 1920

Rev. James Foley, Roman Catholic

No	89
Date of Notice	8 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Cochrane Stevenson	Jean Catherine Tripp
	💍 1920/9793
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker	Domestic Duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	1 year	21 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	11909
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Foley, Roman Catholic

13 October 1920

Thomas Grove Moore
Emily Jane Carey

Thomas Grove Moore
Emily Jane Carey
💍 1920/9770

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Domestic

34
30

Awamoa, Oamaru
Awamoa, Oamaru

4 days
9 days

St Lukes Anglican Church, Oamaru

11910

13 October 1920

Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

No	90
Date of Notice	13 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Grove Moore	Emily Jane Carey
	💍 1920/9770
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Awamoa, Oamaru	Awamoa, Oamaru
Length of Residence	4 days	9 days
Marriage Place	St Lukes Anglican Church, Oamaru
Folio	11910
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 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).