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 3577

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 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

106

24 November 1920

Thomas Hodge
Mary Roulston

Thomas Hodge
Mary Roulston
💍 1920/9786

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill owner
Domestic Duties

30
20

Oamaru
Reidston

4 days
4 days

Columba Presbyterian Church Oamaru

11925

Samuel Roulston (Father)

24 November 1920

Rev. Walter Wright A.B., Presbyterian

No	106
Date of Notice	24 November 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hodge	Mary Roulston
	💍 1920/9786
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill owner	Domestic Duties
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Reidston
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Columba Presbyterian Church Oamaru
Folio	11925
Consent	Samuel Roulston (Father)
Date of Certificate	24 November 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter Wright A.B., Presbyterian

107

29 November 1920

David Finlay
Jemima Webster Bradley

David Finlay
Jemina Isbister Bradley
💍 1920/12225

Bachelor
Widow (20/3/17)

Farmer
Manageress of Tea Rooms

43
35

Totaratahi
Totaratahi

3 days
24 years

Residence of Mr. William Banks Junior, Totaratahi

11926

29 November 1920

Rev. George William Hunt, Presbyterian

No	107
Date of Notice	29 November 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Finlay	Jemima Webster Bradley
BDM Match (91%)	David Finlay	Jemina Isbister Bradley
	💍 1920/12225
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (20/3/17)
Profession	Farmer	Manageress of Tea Rooms
Age	43	35
Dwelling Place	Totaratahi	Totaratahi
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. William Banks Junior, Totaratahi
Folio	11926
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 November 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. George William Hunt, Presbyterian

108

1 December 1920

Alick Bowden Redford
Emma Agnes Smith

Alick Bowden Radford
Emma Agnes Smith
💍 1920/12236

Widower (20/2/17)
Spinster

Railway Guard
Laundry maid

33
35

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
3 days

St Lukes Anglican Church Oamaru

11927

1 December 1920

Rev. John D. Russell, Church of England

No	108
Date of Notice	1 December 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alick Bowden Redford	Emma Agnes Smith
BDM Match (98%)	Alick Bowden Radford	Emma Agnes Smith
	💍 1920/12236
Condition	Widower (20/2/17)	Spinster
Profession	Railway Guard	Laundry maid
Age	33	35
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Lukes Anglican Church Oamaru
Folio	11927
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. John D. Russell, Church of England

109

1 December 1920

Frederick George Tavener
Adelaide Emily Christina Shugg

Frederick George Taverner
Adelaide Emily Christina Shugg
💍 1920/12243

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Laundress

31
23

Oamaru
Oamaru

1 year
5 years

Residence of Mr. R. J. Shugg, New Borough Oamaru

11928

1 December 1920

Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

No	109
Date of Notice	1 December 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick George Tavener	Adelaide Emily Christina Shugg
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick George Taverner	Adelaide Emily Christina Shugg
	💍 1920/12243
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Laundress
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	1 year	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. R. J. Shugg, New Borough Oamaru
Folio	11928
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

110

3 December 1920

Joseph Montgomery
Mary Clementson

Joseph Montgomery
Mary Clementson
💍 1920/12244

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

27
22

Oamaru
Oamaru

27 years
7 months

Roman Catholic Basilica Reed Street Oamaru

11929

3 December 1920

Rev. James Foley, Roman Catholic

No	110
Date of Notice	3 December 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Montgomery	Mary Clementson
	💍 1920/12244
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	27 years	7 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica Reed Street Oamaru
Folio	11929
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 December 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Foley, Roman Catholic

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).