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 3255

District of 30 September 1921 Quarter ending Oamaru Registrar B. B. 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

23 July 1921

Jabez Hollow
Emily Piercy

Jabez Hollow
Emily Piercy
💍 1921/4608

Widower
Widow

Labourer
Domestic

55
55

Oamaru
Oamaru

47 years
47 years

Residence of Emily Piercy, Frances Street, Oamaru

7903

23 July 1921

Rev. Amos Reader, Presbyterian

No	65
Date of Notice	23 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jabez Hollow	Emily Piercy
	💍 1921/4608
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	55	55
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	47 years	47 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Emily Piercy, Frances Street, Oamaru
Folio	7903
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Amos Reader, Presbyterian

29 July 1921

Robert Francis Bugan
Ellen Fallon

Robert Francis Buzan
Ellen Fallon
💍 1921/4609

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24
23

Enfield
Enfield

24 years
23 years

Roman Catholic Church, Windsor

7904

29 July 1921

Rev. Daniel O'Connell, Roman Catholic

No	66
Date of Notice	29 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Francis Bugan	Ellen Fallon
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Francis Buzan	Ellen Fallon
	💍 1921/4609
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Enfield	Enfield
Length of Residence	24 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Windsor
Folio	7904
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Daniel O'Connell, Roman Catholic

29 July 1921

Robert Andrew Pollock
Jeanie Elizabeth Rankin Douglass

Robert Andrew Pollock
Jane Elizabeth Rankin Douglass
💍 1921/4610

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant
Domestic

40
28

Waiuku, Auckland
Oamaru

Residence of Robert Douglass
28 years

Jergo-land House, Ardgowan, Oamaru

7905

29 July 1921

Rev. Alexander Watson, Presbyterian

No	67
Date of Notice	29 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Andrew Pollock	Jeanie Elizabeth Rankin Douglass
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Andrew Pollock	Jane Elizabeth Rankin Douglass
	💍 1921/4610
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant	Domestic
Age	40	28
Dwelling Place	Waiuku, Auckland	Oamaru
Length of Residence	Residence of Robert Douglass	28 years
Marriage Place	Jergo-land House, Ardgowan, Oamaru
Folio	7905
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexander Watson, Presbyterian

1 August 1921

John Harney
Catherine Agnes O'Connor

John Harney
Catherine Agnes O'Connor
💍 1921/4611

John Fahey
Catherine O'Connor
💍 1921/6881

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman
Waitress

45
41

Oamaru
Oamaru

7 months
4 years

Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru

7906

1 August 1921

Rev. Monsignor John Mackay, Roman Catholic

No	68
Date of Notice	1 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Harney	Catherine Agnes O'Connor
	💍 1921/4611
BDM Match (74%)	John Fahey	Catherine O'Connor
	💍 1921/6881
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman	Waitress
Age	45	41
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	7 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru
Folio	7906
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Monsignor John Mackay, Roman Catholic

1 August 1921

James Ingram
Mabel Cassells

James Ingram
Mabel Cassells
💍 1921/4612

Widower
Spinster

Carpenter
Waitress

39
26

Taa Valley
Oamaru

Columba Church Mance
26 years

Wanabeek Street, Oamaru

7907

1 August 1921

Rev. Walter McLean, Presbyterian

No	69
Date of Notice	1 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Ingram	Mabel Cassells
	💍 1921/4612
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Waitress
Age	39	26
Dwelling Place	Taa Valley	Oamaru
Length of Residence	Columba Church Mance	26 years
Marriage Place	Wanabeek Street, Oamaru
Folio	7907
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter McLean, Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).