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 3249

District of 30 June 1921 Quarter ending Oamaru Registrar S. E. Mckinnon

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

19 May 1921

Arthur Henry Mazey Treston
Alice Gillespie

Arthur Henry Mazey Preston
Alice Gillespie
💍 1921/7274

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Domestic

21
19

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
5 years

Columba Church, Manse, Wansbeck Street, Oamaru

5506

Margaret Gillespie, mother

19 May 1921

Rev. Walter McLean

No	40
Date of Notice	19 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Mazey Treston	Alice Gillespie
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Henry Mazey Preston	Alice Gillespie
	💍 1921/7274
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Domestic
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Columba Church, Manse, Wansbeck Street, Oamaru
Folio	5506
Consent	Margaret Gillespie, mother
Date of Certificate	19 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter McLean

20 May 1921

Edward Johnston Irvine
Ellen Lindsay Whyte

Edward Johnston Irvine
Ellen Findlay Whyte
💍 1921/7275

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

27
25

Papakaio
Papakaio

27 years
25 years

Presbyterian Church, Papakaio

5507

20 May 1921

Rev. W. G. Hannah

No	41
Date of Notice	20 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Johnston Irvine	Ellen Lindsay Whyte
BDM Match (95%)	Edward Johnston Irvine	Ellen Findlay Whyte
	💍 1921/7275
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Papakaio	Papakaio
Length of Residence	27 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Papakaio
Folio	5507
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Hannah

25 May 1921

Arthur David Rusbatch
Janet Galloway

Arthur David Rusbatch
Janet Galloway
💍 1921/7276

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Weaver

26
27

South Oamaru
Oamaru

26 years
27 years

Residence of Alexander Galloway, 27 Tweed Street, Oamaru

5508

25 May 1921

Rev. Walter McLean

No	42
Date of Notice	25 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur David Rusbatch	Janet Galloway
	💍 1921/7276
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Weaver
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	South Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	26 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Alexander Galloway, 27 Tweed Street, Oamaru
Folio	5508
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter McLean

26 May 1921

John Thomas Biggs
Irene McMurtrie

John Thomas Biggs
Irene McMurtrie
💍 1921/7277

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

36
29

Pukeuri
Oamaru

8 years
29 years

St. Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

5509

26 May 1921

Rev. S. L. Hunter

No	43
Date of Notice	26 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Biggs	Irene McMurtrie
	💍 1921/7277
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	36	29
Dwelling Place	Pukeuri	Oamaru
Length of Residence	8 years	29 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	5509
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. L. Hunter

28 May 1921

Nelson Stewart
Caroline Elizabeth Renton

Nelson Stewart
Caroline Elizabeth Renton
💍 1921/7254

Bachelor
Spinster

Traveller
Domestic

24
17

Oamaru
Oamaru

15 years
17 years

Residence of Sarah Ann Marshall, 17 Thames Street, Oamaru

5510

Sarah Ann Marshall, formerly Renton, mother

28 May 1921

Ven. Archdeacon J. D. Russell

No	44
Date of Notice	28 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nelson Stewart	Caroline Elizabeth Renton
	💍 1921/7254
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Traveller	Domestic
Age	24	17
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	15 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Sarah Ann Marshall, 17 Thames Street, Oamaru
Folio	5510
Consent	Sarah Ann Marshall, formerly Renton, mother
Date of Certificate	28 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon J. D. Russell

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).