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 3262

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

2 November 1921

Stuart John Delacourt Russell
Amy Louise Harraway

Stuart John Delacourt Russell
Amy Louise Harraway
💍 1921/6298

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Representative
Domestic

23
34

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
3 days

St Lukes Church, Thames Street, Oamaru

10452

2 November 1921

Ven Archdeacon J. D. Russell, Church of England

No	94
Date of Notice	2 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stuart John Delacourt Russell	Amy Louise Harraway
	💍 1921/6298
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Representative	Domestic
Age	23	34
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Lukes Church, Thames Street, Oamaru
Folio	10452
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1921
Officiating Minister	Ven Archdeacon J. D. Russell, Church of England

11 November 1921

Cornelius Goodson Bugan
Constance Madeline Fallon

Cornelius Goodson Buzan
Constance Madeline Fallon
💍 1921/6305

Widower (25/11/18)
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

33
32

Enfield
Enfield

23 years
32 years

Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru

10453

11 November 1921

Rev James Foley, Roman Catholic

No	95
Date of Notice	11 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cornelius Goodson Bugan	Constance Madeline Fallon
BDM Match (98%)	Cornelius Goodson Buzan	Constance Madeline Fallon
	💍 1921/6305
Condition	Widower (25/11/18)	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	33	32
Dwelling Place	Enfield	Enfield
Length of Residence	23 years	32 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	10453
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 November 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev James Foley, Roman Catholic

12 November 1921

James Kingan
Grace Barbara Dunbar

James Kingan
Grace Barbara Dunbar
💍 1921/6306

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

21
23

Oamaru
Oamaru

6 years
6 years

Residence of William Dunbar, Awamoa, Oamaru

10454

12 November 1921

Rev Alexander Watson, Presbyterian

No	96
Date of Notice	12 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Kingan	Grace Barbara Dunbar
	💍 1921/6306
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Dunbar, Awamoa, Oamaru
Folio	10454
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 November 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Alexander Watson, Presbyterian

24 November 1921

Alexander Griffiths
Violet May Goodall

Alexander Griffiths
Violet May Goodall
💍 1921/6307

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
29

Ardgowan
South Oamaru

3 years
29 years

Columba Church, Wansbeck Street, Oamaru

10455

24 November 1921

Rev Walter McLean M.C., Presbyterian

No	97
Date of Notice	24 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Griffiths	Violet May Goodall
	💍 1921/6307
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	29
Dwelling Place	Ardgowan	South Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Columba Church, Wansbeck Street, Oamaru
Folio	10455
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 November 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Walter McLean M.C., Presbyterian

25 November 1921

Robert Pheloung
Grace Pryde Lawrence

Robert Pheloung
Grace Pryde Lawrence
💍 1921/6308

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic

29
25

Oamaru
Ardgowan

29 years
25 years

Residence of M.G.B., Ardgowan

10456

25 November 1921

Rev Alexander Watson, Presbyterian

No	98
Date of Notice	25 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Pheloung	Grace Pryde Lawrence
	💍 1921/6308
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Ardgowan
Length of Residence	29 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of M.G.B., Ardgowan
Folio	10456
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 November 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Alexander Watson, 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).