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 3113

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 1922 Registrar M. Earle

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

11 December 1922

Arthur John Smith
Margaret Ellen White

Arthur John Smith
Margaret Ellen White
💍 1922/7095

Bachelor
Spinster

Stone mason
Weaver

31
30

Oamaru
Oamaru

31 years
30 years

Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru

9338

11 December 1922

Rev. R. Graham, Roman Catholic

No	76
Date of Notice	11 December 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur John Smith	Margaret Ellen White
	💍 1922/7095
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stone mason	Weaver
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	31 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru
Folio	9338
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Graham, Roman Catholic

12 December 1922

Sydney Gordon King
May Irvine

Sydney Gordon King
May Irvine
💍 1922/7096

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

28
18

Awamoa
Oamaru

1 year
18 years

Columba Church, Oamaru

9339

Margaret Webb (formerly Irvine), mother

12 December 1922

Rev. W. G. Hannah, Presbyterian

No	77
Date of Notice	12 December 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Gordon King	May Irvine
	💍 1922/7096
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Awamoa	Oamaru
Length of Residence	1 year	18 years
Marriage Place	Columba Church, Oamaru
Folio	9339
Consent	Margaret Webb (formerly Irvine), mother
Date of Certificate	12 December 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Hannah, Presbyterian

16 December 1922

James Stevenson
Christina Wallace

James Stevenson
Christina Wallace
💍 1922/7097

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Woollen Worker

38
28

Oamaru
Oamaru

37 years
28 years

Church of England, Newborough

9340

16 December 1922

Rev. David Jamieson, Church of England

No	78
Date of Notice	16 December 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Stevenson	Christina Wallace
	💍 1922/7097
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Woollen Worker
Age	38	28
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	37 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Newborough
Folio	9340
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 December 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Jamieson, Church of England

19 December 1922

Crispin Bayford
Mabel Frith

Crispin Cayford
Mabel Frith
💍 1922/7098

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic Duties

33
29

Oamaru
Oamaru

12 years
29 years

Church of Christ, Eden Street, Oamaru

9341

19 December 1922

Rev. George Tero, Church of Christ

No	79
Date of Notice	19 December 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Crispin Bayford	Mabel Frith
BDM Match (97%)	Crispin Cayford	Mabel Frith
	💍 1922/7098
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic Duties
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	12 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Eden Street, Oamaru
Folio	9341
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Tero, Church of Christ

22 December 1922

John Francis Fraser
Ellen Elizabeth Siewwright

John Francis Fraser
Ellen Elizabeth Sievwright
💍 1922/7099

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Milliner

32
26

Oamaru
Oamaru

2 days
3 weeks

Columba Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

9342

22 December 1922

Rev. S. J. Hendrie, Presbyterian

No	80
Date of Notice	22 December 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Francis Fraser	Ellen Elizabeth Siewwright
BDM Match (98%)	John Francis Fraser	Ellen Elizabeth Sievwright
	💍 1922/7099
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Milliner
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	2 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Columba Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	9342
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. J. Hendrie, 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).