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 3257

District of 30 September 1921 Quarter ending Oamaru Registrar S. 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

24 August 1921

Thomas James Guthrie
Lily Bain

Thomas James Guthrie
Lily Bain
💍 1921/3552

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Saleswoman

29
22

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 years
22 years

St. Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

8196

24 August 1921

Rev. Walter McLean M.C., Presbyterian

No	75
Date of Notice	24 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas James Guthrie	Lily Bain
	💍 1921/3552
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Saleswoman
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	8196
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter McLean M.C., Presbyterian

24 August 1921

Thomas Edwin Lawson
Mary Ellen Pripp

Thomas Edwin Lawson
Mary Ellen Tripp
💍 1921/4594

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

28
25

Oamaru
Oamaru

4 years
25 years

St. Lukes Anglican Church, Oamaru

7913

24 August 1921

Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Anglican

No	76
Date of Notice	24 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Edwin Lawson	Mary Ellen Pripp
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Edwin Lawson	Mary Ellen Tripp
	💍 1921/4594
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	4 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Anglican Church, Oamaru
Folio	7913
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Anglican

29 August 1921

Robert Stephen Anderson
Irene Allan Forbes

Robert Stephen Anderson
Irene Allan Forbes
💍 1921/4595

Bachelor
Widow

Bootmaker
Domestic

30
24

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
24 years

St. Pauls Presbyterian Manse, Reed Street, Oamaru

7914

29 August 1921

Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

No	77
Date of Notice	29 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Stephen Anderson	Irene Allan Forbes
	💍 1921/4595
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Presbyterian Manse, Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	7914
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, Presbyterian

5 September 1921

Samuel Eccles
Sarah Annie Hollow

Samuel Eccles
Sarah Annie Hollow
💍 1921/4596

Widower
Spinster

Bridgeman
Parlor Maid

47
40

Oamaru
Alma

3 days
40 years

Residence of Wm. John Hollow, Alma

7915

5 September 1921

Rev. Archibald G. Irvine M.A., Presbyterian

No	78
Date of Notice	5 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Eccles	Sarah Annie Hollow
	💍 1921/4596
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Bridgeman	Parlor Maid
Age	47	40
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Alma
Length of Residence	3 days	40 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Wm. John Hollow, Alma
Folio	7915
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archibald G. Irvine M.A., Presbyterian

6 September 1921

William Sheppard
Rubina Amelia Young

William Sheppard
Rubina Amelia Young
💍 1921/4597

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxi driver
Domestic

34
22

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
3 days

St. Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

7916

6 September 1921

Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter M.A., Presbyterian

No	79
Date of Notice	6 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Sheppard	Rubina Amelia Young
	💍 1921/4597
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxi driver	Domestic
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	7916
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter M.A., 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).