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 3242

District of 31 March 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

3 March 1921

Arthur Henry Willetts
Una Gwendoline Benson

Arthur Henry Willetts
Una Gwendoline Benson
💍 1921/10034

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist
Shop Assistant

27
22

Wellington
Oamaru

22 years
22 years

St. Lukes Anglican Church, Oamaru

2756

3 March 1921

Archdeacon J. D. Russell, Anglican

No	11
Date of Notice	3 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Willetts	Una Gwendoline Benson
	💍 1921/10034
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist	Shop Assistant
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Oamaru
Length of Residence	22 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Anglican Church, Oamaru
Folio	2756
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon J. D. Russell, Anglican

10 March 1921

Andrew Lilburne Flood
Sophia Patience Chalmers

Andrew Lilburne Hood
Sophia Patience Chalmers
💍 1921/10035

Widower (27.12.18)
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Dressmaker

33
24

Oamaru
Oamaru

1 year
20 years

Columba Church, Wansbeck Street, Oamaru

2757

10 March 1921

Rev. Walter McLean, M.C., Presbyterian

No	12
Date of Notice	10 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Lilburne Flood	Sophia Patience Chalmers
BDM Match (95%)	Andrew Lilburne Hood	Sophia Patience Chalmers
	💍 1921/10035
Condition	Widower (27.12.18)	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Dressmaker
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	1 year	20 years
Marriage Place	Columba Church, Wansbeck Street, Oamaru
Folio	2757
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter McLean, M.C., Presbyterian

16 March 1921

Frederick William Stevenson
Eliza Moffat

Frederick William Stevenson
Eliza Moffat
💍 1921/10036

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

24
27

Oamaru
Oamaru

1 year
9 years

Residence of Andrew Moffat, George Street, Oamaru

2758

16 March 1921

Rev. Walter McLean, M.C., Presbyterian

No	13
Date of Notice	16 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Stevenson	Eliza Moffat
	💍 1921/10036
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	1 year	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Andrew Moffat, George Street, Oamaru
Folio	2758
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter McLean, M.C., Presbyterian

19 March 1921

John Thomas Fitzgerald
Elizabeth Tuite

John Thomas Fitzgerald
Elizabeth Tuite
💍 1921/10037

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman's Assistant
Domestic

29
32

Oamaru
Oamaru

2 years
7 years

Roman Catholic Church, Reed Street, Oamaru

2759

19 March 1921

Rev. James Foley, Roman Catholic

No	14
Date of Notice	19 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Fitzgerald	Elizabeth Tuite
	💍 1921/10037
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman's Assistant	Domestic
Age	29	32
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	2 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	2759
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Foley, Roman Catholic

21 March 1921

Arthur Frank Broad
Edith Bruce

Arthur Frank Broad
Edith Bruce
💍 1921/10014

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Darner

35
35

Oamaru
Oamaru

35 years
15 years

Bride's residence, 24 Stour Street, Oamaru

2760

21 March 1921

Rev. Walter McLean, M.C., Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	21 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Frank Broad	Edith Bruce
	💍 1921/10014
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Darner
Age	35	35
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	35 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Bride's residence, 24 Stour Street, Oamaru
Folio	2760
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter McLean, M.C., 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).