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 3261

District of 31 December 1921 Quarter ending Oamaru Registrar Chas. F. James

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

13 October 1921

John Brown
Annie McDiarmid

John Brown
Annie McDiarmid
💍 1921/4031

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Buyer
Saleswoman

30
30

Oamaru
Oamaru

15 years
30 years

St Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

10447

13 October 1921

Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, M.A., Presbyterian

No	89
Date of Notice	13 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Brown	Annie McDiarmid
	💍 1921/4031
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Buyer	Saleswoman
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	15 years	30 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	10447
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel Fowler Hunter, M.A., Presbyterian

14 October 1921

George Ward Thomson
Merle Isobel Holmes

George Ward Thomson
Merle Isobel Holmes
💍 1921/4032

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock-Buyer
Clerk

24
24

Oamaru
Oamaru

9 months
24 years

Church of England, Newborough, Oamaru

10448

14 October 1921

Rev. David Jamieson, Church of England

No	90
Date of Notice	14 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ward Thomson	Merle Isobel Holmes
	💍 1921/4032
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock-Buyer	Clerk
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	9 months	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Newborough, Oamaru
Folio	10448
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Jamieson, Church of England

15 October 1921

Carl Anton Teschner
Elsie Minie Wallace

Carl Anton Teschner
Elsie Minie Wallace
💍 1921/4033

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

29
23

Enfield
Enfield

23 years
23 years

Methodist Church, Enfield

10449

15 October 1921

Rev. Amos Reader, Methodist

No	91
Date of Notice	15 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Carl Anton Teschner	Elsie Minie Wallace
	💍 1921/4033
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Enfield	Enfield
Length of Residence	23 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Enfield
Folio	10449
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Amos Reader, Methodist

17 October 1921

William Moffatt Denholm
Mary Helena Nimmo

William Moffatt Denhohn
Mary Helena Nimmo
💍 1921/4034

Bachelor
Spinster

Loom Tuner
Domestic

31
29

Oamaru
Ngapara

16 years
29 years

Presbyterian Church, Enfield

10450

17 October 1921

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

No	92
Date of Notice	17 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Moffatt Denholm	Mary Helena Nimmo
BDM Match (96%)	William Moffatt Denhohn	Mary Helena Nimmo
	💍 1921/4034
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Loom Tuner	Domestic
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Ngapara
Length of Residence	16 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Enfield
Folio	10450
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Irvine, M.A., Presbyterian

28 October 1921

John James Elder
Grace Murray Sutherland

John James Elder
Grace Murray Sutherland
💍 1921/6287

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

29
24

Airedale
Airedale

11 years
14 days

Residence of W. G. Elder, Glen Airlie, Airedale

10451

28 October 1921

Rev. W. G. Hannah, Presbyterian

No	93
Date of Notice	28 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Elder	Grace Murray Sutherland
	💍 1921/6287
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Airedale	Airedale
Length of Residence	11 years	14 days
Marriage Place	Residence of W. G. Elder, Glen Airlie, Airedale
Folio	10451
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Hannah, 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).