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 3247

District of 30 June 1921 Quarter ending Oamaru Registrar S. S. Cumholm

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

23 April 1921

William McTimpey
Mary Wather Hunter

William McGimpsey
Mary Walker Hunter
💍 1921/1903

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Housekeeper

51
40

Awamoa, Oamaru
Awamoa, Oamaru

9 years
9 years

Columba Manse, Wansbeck Street, Oamaru

5496

23 April 1921

Rev. Walter McLean, M.C., Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	23 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McTimpey	Mary Wather Hunter
BDM Match (89%)	William McGimpsey	Mary Walker Hunter
	💍 1921/1903
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	51	40
Dwelling Place	Awamoa, Oamaru	Awamoa, Oamaru
Length of Residence	9 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Columba Manse, Wansbeck Street, Oamaru
Folio	5496
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter McLean, M.C., Presbyterian

26 April 1921

James Fleming Laurenson
Jessie Mary Gibson

James Fleming Laurenson
Jessie May Gibson
💍 1921/1904

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

32
23

Rauroo Hill
Rauroo Hill

1 month
2 weeks

Columba Manse, Wansbeck Street, Oamaru

5497

26 April 1921

Rev. Walter McLean, M.C., Presbyterian

No	31
Date of Notice	26 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Fleming Laurenson	Jessie Mary Gibson
BDM Match (97%)	James Fleming Laurenson	Jessie May Gibson
	💍 1921/1904
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Rauroo Hill	Rauroo Hill
Length of Residence	1 month	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Columba Manse, Wansbeck Street, Oamaru
Folio	5497
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter McLean, M.C., Presbyterian

26 April 1921

Alexander Simpson
Margaret Birtwistle

Alexander Simpson
Margaret Birtwistle
💍 1921/10883

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Plate Layer
Domestic

38
32

Oamaru
Papakaio

13 years
7 weeks

Columba Sunday School, Wansbeck Street, Oamaru

5498

26 April 1921

Rev. Walter McLean, M.C., Presbyterian

No	32
Date of Notice	26 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Simpson	Margaret Birtwistle
	💍 1921/10883
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Plate Layer	Domestic
Age	38	32
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Papakaio
Length of Residence	13 years	7 weeks
Marriage Place	Columba Sunday School, Wansbeck Street, Oamaru
Folio	5498
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter McLean, M.C., Presbyterian

27 April 1921

Arthur Edward Wakefield
Mary Eveline Antonia Petrie

Arthur Edward Wakefield
Mary Eveline Antonia Petrie
💍 1921/1905

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Domestic

40
17

Reidston
Reidston

10 years
17 years

Residence of James Petrie, Reidston

5499

James Petrie, father

27 April 1921

Rev. G. W. Hunt, Presbyterian

No	33
Date of Notice	27 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edward Wakefield	Mary Eveline Antonia Petrie
	💍 1921/1905
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic
Age	40	17
Dwelling Place	Reidston	Reidston
Length of Residence	10 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Residence of James Petrie, Reidston
Folio	5499
Consent	James Petrie, father
Date of Certificate	27 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Hunt, Presbyterian

29 April 1921

Francis Augustus Price
Ethel Cuthbertson

Francis Augustus Price
Ethel Cuthbertson
💍 1921/1906

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Shop Assistant

23
23

Waimate
Oamaru

3 days

Methodist Church, Eden Street, Oamaru

5500

29 April 1921

Rev. Amos Reader, Methodist

No	34
Date of Notice	29 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Augustus Price	Ethel Cuthbertson
	💍 1921/1906
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Shop Assistant
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Oamaru
Length of Residence		3 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Eden Street, Oamaru
Folio	5500
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Amos Reader, Methodist

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).