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 3245

District of 30 June 1921 Quarter ending Oamaru Registrar P. C. H. C. [illegible]

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 April 1921

Alexander Wilson
Eileen Hill

Alexander Wilson
Eileen Hill
💍 1921/1892

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Music Teacher

29
23

Otiake
Oamaru

11 years
2 weeks

St. Lukes Anglican Church, Thames Street

5486

2 April 1921

Ven Archdeacon J. D. Russell, Anglican

No	20
Date of Notice	2 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Wilson	Eileen Hill
	💍 1921/1892
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Music Teacher
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Otiake	Oamaru
Length of Residence	11 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Anglican Church, Thames Street
Folio	5486
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Ven Archdeacon J. D. Russell, Anglican

2 April 1921

John Brown
Doris Helen Carter

John Brown
Doris Hellen Carter
💍 1921/1893

Bachelor
Divorced (10 September 1919)

Engine Driver
Parlour Maid

30
21

Enfield
Enfield

8 weeks
6 weeks

Registrar's Office

5487

2 April 1921

Registrar, Oamaru

No	21
Date of Notice	2 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Brown	Doris Helen Carter
BDM Match (97%)	John Brown	Doris Hellen Carter
	💍 1921/1893
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (10 September 1919)
Profession	Engine Driver	Parlour Maid
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Enfield	Enfield
Length of Residence	8 weeks	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	5487
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Oamaru

12 April 1921

Henry Arrow Searle
Leila Anderson

Henry Arron Searle
Leila Anderson
💍 1921/1894

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
24

Kia Ora
Whitestone

7 years
24 years

Residence of Mr E. Anderson, Whitestone

5488

12 April 1921

Rev. Alexander Watson, Presbyterian

No	22
Date of Notice	12 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Arrow Searle	Leila Anderson
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Arron Searle	Leila Anderson
	💍 1921/1894
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Kia Ora	Whitestone
Length of Residence	7 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr E. Anderson, Whitestone
Folio	5488
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexander Watson, Presbyterian

13 April 1921

Timothy Crawley
Margaret Mary Elizabeth Prue

Timothy Crowley
Margaret Mary Elizabeth Prue
💍 1921/1895

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic

23
26

Oamaru
Oamaru

23 years
2 years

The Oamaru Public Hospital

5489

13 April 1921

Rev. Daniel O'Connell, Catholic

No	23
Date of Notice	13 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Timothy Crawley	Margaret Mary Elizabeth Prue
BDM Match (97%)	Timothy Crowley	Margaret Mary Elizabeth Prue
	💍 1921/1895
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	23 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The Oamaru Public Hospital
Folio	5489
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Daniel O'Connell, Catholic

14 April 1921

Albert Sidney Buddicom
Jessie McLeod

Albert Sidney Buddicom
Jessie McLeod
💍 1921/1896

Bachelor
Spinster

General Carrier
Milliner

32
24

Dunedin
Oamaru

32 years
24 years

Church of England, Newborough

5490

14 April 1921

Rev. David Jamieson, Anglican

No	24
Date of Notice	14 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Sidney Buddicom	Jessie McLeod
	💍 1921/1896
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	General Carrier	Milliner
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Oamaru
Length of Residence	32 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Newborough
Folio	5490
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Jamieson, Anglican

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).