Intentions to Marry, 1922 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840511, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1922 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.

1922h contains pages 2981-3386, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 3095

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 March 1922 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

6 January 1922

Peter Wilson McGradie
Hannah Joiner

Peter Wilson McGradie
Hannah Joiner
💍 1922/2131

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

53
39

Corriedale
Corriedale

18 years
39 years

Presbyterian Manse

2159

6 January 1922

Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Wilson McGradie	Hannah Joiner
	💍 1922/2131
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	53	39
Dwelling Place	Corriedale	Corriedale
Length of Residence	18 years	39 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse
Folio	2159
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

16 January 1922

Eric John Tweedie Kelly
Ina Gladys Mitchell

Eric John Tweedie Kelly
Ina Gladys Mitchell
💍 1922/2109

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
24

Dunback
Weston

24 years

Presbyterian Church, Weston

2160

16 January 1922

Rev. A. Watson, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	16 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric John Tweedie Kelly	Ina Gladys Mitchell
	💍 1922/2109
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Dunback	Weston
Length of Residence		24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Weston
Folio	2160
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Watson, Presbyterian

24 January 1922

Edwin William Robert Dirth
Elizabeth West

Edwin William Robert Firth
Elizabeth West
💍 1922/2110

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

51
46

Melbourne, Australia
Weston

46 years

Residence of James West

2161

24 January 1922

Rev. A. Watson, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	24 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin William Robert Dirth	Elizabeth West
BDM Match (98%)	Edwin William Robert Firth	Elizabeth West
	💍 1922/2110
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	51	46
Dwelling Place	Melbourne, Australia	Weston
Length of Residence		46 years
Marriage Place	Residence of James West
Folio	2161
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Watson, Presbyterian

4 February 1922

Alan Edward Crichton McDouall
Doris Annie Preston

Alan Edward Crichton McDouall
Doris Annie Preston
💍 1922/2111

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
24

Clinton
Oamaru

17 years

St. Lukes Church, Oamaru

2162

4 February 1922

Ven. Archdeacon J. D. Russell, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	4 February 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alan Edward Crichton McDouall	Doris Annie Preston
	💍 1922/2111
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Clinton	Oamaru
Length of Residence		17 years
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Church, Oamaru
Folio	2162
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1922
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon J. D. Russell, Church of England

8 February 1922

James Philip Bennett
Ethel Alice Curwood

James Philip Bennett
Ethel Alice Curwood
💍 1922/2112

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
20

Hastings
Oamaru

11 years

Church of England, Newborough, Oamaru

2163

Charlotte Maude Curwood, mother

8 February 1922

Rev. David Jamieson, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	8 February 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Philip Bennett	Ethel Alice Curwood
	💍 1922/2112
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Oamaru
Length of Residence		11 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Newborough, Oamaru
Folio	2163
Consent	Charlotte Maude Curwood, mother
Date of Certificate	8 February 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Jamieson, Church of England

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).