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 3246

District of 30 June 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

12 April 1921

James McCone
Ivy Rebecca Wharton

James McCone
Ivy Rebecca Wharton
💍 1921/1897

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

22
20

Incholme
Incholme

16 months
6 years

Registrar's Office, Oamaru

5491

John Wharton, father

12 April 1921

Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru

No	25
Date of Notice	12 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McCone	Ivy Rebecca Wharton
	💍 1921/1897
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Incholme	Incholme
Length of Residence	16 months	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Oamaru
Folio	5491
Consent	John Wharton, father
Date of Certificate	12 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru

20 April 1921

William Francis Barry
Jessie Ann Taylor

William Francis Barry
Jessie Ann Taylor
💍 1921/1898

Widower
Spinster

Orchardist
Laundress

34
23

Enfield
Enfield

5 days
23 years

Residence of M. J. Taylor, Enfield

5492

20 April 1921

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

No	26
Date of Notice	20 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Francis Barry	Jessie Ann Taylor
	💍 1921/1898
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Laundress
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Enfield	Enfield
Length of Residence	5 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of M. J. Taylor, Enfield
Folio	5492
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Irvine, M.A., Presbyterian

22 April 1921

John Cairns Ingram
Myra Isabel Taplen

John Cairns Ingram
Myra Isabel Taplin
💍 1921/1899

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

38
21

Pukeuri
Pukeuri

23 years
2 years

St. Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

5493

22 April 1921

Rev. W. G. Hannah, Presbyterian

No	27
Date of Notice	22 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Cairns Ingram	Myra Isabel Taplen
BDM Match (97%)	John Cairns Ingram	Myra Isabel Taplin
	💍 1921/1899
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	38	21
Dwelling Place	Pukeuri	Pukeuri
Length of Residence	23 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	5493
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Hannah, Presbyterian

23 April 1921

William Russell Gillett
Margaret Ellen Freeman

William Russell Gillett
Margaret Ellen Freeman
💍 1921/1900

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Domestic Duties

29
29

Enfield
Enfield

2 years
2 years

Columba Manse, Wansbeck Street, Oamaru

5494

23 April 1921

Rev. Walter McLean, M.C., Presbyterian

No	28
Date of Notice	23 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Russell Gillett	Margaret Ellen Freeman
	💍 1921/1900
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Enfield	Enfield
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Columba Manse, Wansbeck Street, Oamaru
Folio	5494
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter McLean, M.C., Presbyterian

25 April 1921

Thomas Marcus Chalmers
Nellie Knight

Thomas Marcus Chalmers
Nellie Knight
💍 1921/1901

Bachelor
Spinster

Drover
Domestic Duties

27
22

Ardgowan
Oamaru

22 years
22 years

Columba Sunday School, Wansbeck Street, Oamaru

5495

23 April 1921

Rev. Walter McLean, M.C., Presbyterian

No	29
Date of Notice	25 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Marcus Chalmers	Nellie Knight
	💍 1921/1901
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drover	Domestic Duties
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Ardgowan	Oamaru
Length of Residence	22 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Columba Sunday School, Wansbeck Street, Oamaru
Folio	5495
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter McLean, M.C., Presbyterian

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).