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 3367

District of 30 September 1921 Quarter ending Campbelltown Registrar A. E. Fordham

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 July 1921

Francis Adam Wilson
Iris Margaret McQuarrie

Francis Adam Wilson
Iris Margaret McQuarrie
💍 1921/4658

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Domestic Duties

43
23

Bluff
Invercargill

35 years
23 years

Residence of Thos W. Stewart, Burrows St, Bluff

7953

13 July 1921

Thomas Akuse, Methodist

No	6
Date of Notice	13 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Adam Wilson	Iris Margaret McQuarrie
	💍 1921/4658
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic Duties
Age	43	23
Dwelling Place	Bluff	Invercargill
Length of Residence	35 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Thos W. Stewart, Burrows St, Bluff
Folio	7953
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Thomas Akuse, Methodist

26 July 1921

John Victor Stanley Campbell
Ivy Gretta Veronica Smith

John Victor Stanley Campbell
Ivy Gretta Veronica Smith
💍 1921/4659

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

20
27

Bluff
Bluff

3 days
3 days

St Pauls Presbyterian Manse, Bluff

7954

Martin Campbell, father

26 July 1921

Robert Francis, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	26 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Victor Stanley Campbell	Ivy Gretta Veronica Smith
	💍 1921/4659
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	20	27
Dwelling Place	Bluff	Bluff
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Pauls Presbyterian Manse, Bluff
Folio	7954
Consent	Martin Campbell, father
Date of Certificate	26 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Robert Francis, Presbyterian

24 August 1921

James Alexander Menzies Cameron
Elizabeth Ellen Waddel

James Alexander Menzies Cameron
Elizabeth Ellen Waddel
💍 1921/4660

Bachelor
Spinster

Dentist
Domestic Duties

32
26

Bluff
Bluff

3 days
26 years

St Matthews Church of England, Bluff

7955

24 August 1921

W. H. Roberts, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	24 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alexander Menzies Cameron	Elizabeth Ellen Waddel
	💍 1921/4660
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dentist	Domestic Duties
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Bluff	Bluff
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church of England, Bluff
Folio	7955
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 August 1921
Officiating Minister	W. H. Roberts, Church of England

12 September 1921

Alexander Cheyne
Isabella Thomson White

Alexander Cheyne
Isabella Thomson White
💍 1921/4661

Widower (12-3-1906)
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

45
38

Bluff
Bluff

5 years
35 years

Presbyterian Church, Bluff

7956

12 September 1921

Robert Francis, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	12 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Cheyne	Isabella Thomson White
	💍 1921/4661
Condition	Widower (12-3-1906)	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	45	38
Dwelling Place	Bluff	Bluff
Length of Residence	5 years	35 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Bluff
Folio	7956
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Robert Francis, Presbyterian

17 September 1921

James Ross
Ethel May Morris

James Ross
Ethel May Morris
💍 1921/4662

Bachelor
Spinster

Ship Chief Cook
Domestic Duties

32
18

Bluff
Bluff

7 days
3 days

Registrars Office, Bluff

7957

Harry Campbell Morris

17 September 1921

A. E. Fordham, Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	17 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Ross	Ethel May Morris
	💍 1921/4662
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ship Chief Cook	Domestic Duties
Age	32	18
Dwelling Place	Bluff	Bluff
Length of Residence	7 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Bluff
Folio	7957
Consent	Harry Campbell Morris
Date of Certificate	17 September 1921
Officiating Minister	A. E. Fordham, Registrar

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).