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 3254

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

16 July 1921

Daniel Joseph Collins
Kate McLennan

Daniel Joseph Collins
Kate McLennan
💍 1921/4580

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Domestic

32
28

Oamaru
Oamaru

8 months
6 weeks

Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru

7898

16 July 1921

Rev. Daniel O'Connell, Roman Catholic

No	60
Date of Notice	16 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Joseph Collins	Kate McLennan
	💍 1921/4580
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Domestic
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	8 months	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru
Folio	7898
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Daniel O'Connell, Roman Catholic

18 July 1921

Oliver Smith Selman
Harriet Caroline Fricker

Oliver Smith Selman
Harriet Caroline Fricker
💍 1921/4581

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

36
35

Georgetown
Georgetown

25 years
25 years

St Pauls Presbyterian Church, Reed Street, Oamaru

7899

18 July 1921

Rev. Samuel Lowler Hunter, Presbyterian

No	61
Date of Notice	18 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oliver Smith Selman	Harriet Caroline Fricker
	💍 1921/4581
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	36	35
Dwelling Place	Georgetown	Georgetown
Length of Residence	25 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Presbyterian Church, Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	7899
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel Lowler Hunter, Presbyterian

18 July 1921

Leslie Payne Bennett
Janet Stewart Steele

Leslie Payne Bennett
Janet Stewart Steele
💍 1921/4582

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk
Saleswoman

27
22

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
22 years

Methodist Church, Eden Street, Oamaru

7900

18 July 1921

Rev. Amos Reader, Methodist

No	62
Date of Notice	18 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Payne Bennett	Janet Stewart Steele
	💍 1921/4582
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk	Saleswoman
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Eden Street, Oamaru
Folio	7900
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Amos Reader, Methodist

21 July 1921

Alexander Gilchrist
Margaret Sparks

Alexander Gilchrist
Margaret Sparks
💍 1921/4590

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic

29
21

Oamaru
Oamaru

29 years
21 years

St Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

7901

21 July 1921

Rev. Samuel Lowler Hunter, Presbyterian

No	63
Date of Notice	21 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Gilchrist	Margaret Sparks
	💍 1921/4590
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	29 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	7901
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel Lowler Hunter, Presbyterian

22 July 1921

Francis William Anderson
Katherine Hamilton

Francis William Anderson
Katherine Hamilton
💍 1921/4601

Bachelor
Spinster

Woollen Worker
Domestic

22
21

Oamaru
Oamaru

22 years
18 months

Baptist Church Mance, Hull Street, Oamaru

7902

22 July 1921

Rev. Robert Robertson, Baptist

No	64
Date of Notice	22 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis William Anderson	Katherine Hamilton
	💍 1921/4601
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woollen Worker	Domestic
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	22 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Mance, Hull Street, Oamaru
Folio	7902
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Robertson, Baptist

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).