Intentions to Marry, 1921 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840503, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1921 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.

1921h contains pages 3127-3538, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 3239

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Oamaru Registrar 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

8 January 1921

Louis John Kennitz
Elizabeth Stephens

Louis John Kemnitz Familton
Elizabeth Stephens Farra
💍 1921/10001

Bachelor
Spinster

Auctioneer
Domestic Duties

34
25

Oamaru
Oamaru

20 years
2 years

St. Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

2746

8 January 1921

Rev. Hector Maclean, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	8 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis John Kennitz	Elizabeth Stephens
BDM Match (69%)	Louis John Kemnitz Familton	Elizabeth Stephens Farra
	💍 1921/10001
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	20 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	2746
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Hector Maclean, Presbyterian

8 January 1921

William David Whitaker
Eva Cunningham

William David Whitaker
Eva Cunningham
💍 1921/10002

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist
Domestic Duties

25
25

Residence of John Cunningham, 42 Eden St, Oamaru
Oamaru

7 days
25 years

Residence of John Cunningham, 42 Eden St, Oamaru

2747

8 January 1921

Rev. George D. Verco, Church of Christ

No	2
Date of Notice	8 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William David Whitaker	Eva Cunningham
	💍 1921/10002
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Domestic Duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Residence of John Cunningham, 42 Eden St, Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	7 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Cunningham, 42 Eden St, Oamaru
Folio	2747
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. George D. Verco, Church of Christ

12 January 1921

Charles Robb
Gertrude Florence Hopley

Charles Robb
Gertrude Florence Hopley
💍 1921/10003

Bachelor
Spinster

Police constable
Domestic Duties

30
26

Oamaru
Oamaru

1 year
26 years

St. Lukes Anglican Church, Oamaru

2748

12 January 1921

Ven. Archdeacon J. D. Russell, Anglican

No	3
Date of Notice	12 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Robb	Gertrude Florence Hopley
	💍 1921/10003
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police constable	Domestic Duties
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	1 year	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Anglican Church, Oamaru
Folio	2748
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon J. D. Russell, Anglican

22 January 1921

Robert James Gray
Jane Charwick

Robert James Gray
Jane Marwick
💍 1921/10004

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
School Teacher

31
33

Residence of Hugh Charwick, North Road, Oamaru
Oamaru

31 years
33 years

Residence of Hugh Charwick, North Road, Oamaru

2749

22 January 1921

Rev. W. G. Hannah, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	22 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert James Gray	Jane Charwick
BDM Match (92%)	Robert James Gray	Jane Marwick
	💍 1921/10004
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	School Teacher
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Residence of Hugh Charwick, North Road, Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	31 years	33 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Hugh Charwick, North Road, Oamaru
Folio	2749
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Hannah, Presbyterian

26 January 1921

Launcelot Dixon
Mary Gleeson

Launcelot Dixon
Mary Gleeson
💍 1921/10005

Widower (18th December 1889)
Spinster

Stonemason
Domestic Duties

58
44

Oamaru
Oamaru

14 years
14 years

Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru

2750

26 January 1921

Rev. Daniel O'Connell, Roman Catholic

No	5
Date of Notice	26 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Launcelot Dixon	Mary Gleeson
	💍 1921/10005
Condition	Widower (18th December 1889)	Spinster
Profession	Stonemason	Domestic Duties
Age	58	44
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	14 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	2750
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Daniel O'Connell, 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).