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 3241

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

29 January 1921

Milton Green
Bridget Wright

Milton Green
Bridget Wright
💍 1921/10013

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
School Teacher

34
36

Gore
Oamaru

34 years
3 weeks

Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed St, Oamaru

2751

29 January 1921

Rev. Daniel O'Connell, Roman Catholic

No	6
Date of Notice	29 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Milton Green	Bridget Wright
	💍 1921/10013
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	School Teacher
Age	34	36
Dwelling Place	Gore	Oamaru
Length of Residence	34 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed St, Oamaru
Folio	2751
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Daniel O'Connell, Roman Catholic

31 January 1921

John Henley James Stevenson
Margaret Matheson Campbell

John Henley James Stevenson
Margaret Mathieson Campbell
💍 1921/10024

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Agency Manager
Domestic

24
19

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
3 weeks

Residence, David Rodger, Kauru Hill

2752

David Rodger, Guardian

31 January 1921

Rev. G. W. Hunt, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	31 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henley James Stevenson	Margaret Matheson Campbell
BDM Match (98%)	John Henley James Stevenson	Margaret Mathieson Campbell
	💍 1921/10024
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Agency Manager	Domestic
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence, David Rodger, Kauru Hill
Folio	2752
Consent	David Rodger, Guardian
Date of Certificate	31 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Hunt, Presbyterian

7 February 1921

John Branthwaite
Elsie May Radford

John Branthwaite
Elsie May Radford
💍 1921/10031

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Draper's Assistant

29
20

Oamaru
Oamaru

29 years
14 years

St Luke's Anglican Church, Oamaru

2753

7 February 1921

Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Anglican

No	8
Date of Notice	7 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Branthwaite	Elsie May Radford
	💍 1921/10031
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Draper's Assistant
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	29 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St Luke's Anglican Church, Oamaru
Folio	2753
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Anglican

11 February 1921

David Watson Smith
Agnes Adelaide Doyle

David Watson Smith
Agnes Adelaide Doyle
💍 1921/10032

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic Duties

32
21

Enfield
Enfield

7 days
21 years

Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed St, Oamaru

2754

11 February 1921

Rev. James Foley, Roman Catholic

No	9
Date of Notice	11 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Watson Smith	Agnes Adelaide Doyle
	💍 1921/10032
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic Duties
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Enfield	Enfield
Length of Residence	7 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed St, Oamaru
Folio	2754
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Foley, Roman Catholic

28 February 1921

Francis John Meldrum
Ellen Brown

Francis John Meldrum
Ellen Brown
💍 1921/10033

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

25
25

Oamaru
Oamaru

7 years
2 years

Columba Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

2755

28 February 1921

Rev. Walter McLean, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	28 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis John Meldrum	Ellen Brown
	💍 1921/10033
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	7 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Columba Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	2755
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter 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).