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 3245

District of Gore Quarter ending 30 September 1922 Registrar Not specified

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

4 June 1922

Martin Hickey
Ellen Martha Dooley

Martin Hickey
Ellen Martha Dooley
💍 1922/2923

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

30
23

Waimate
Gore

16 years
7 years

Roman Catholic Church, Gore

4759

3 July 1922

Rev. Andrew Fenelon, Roman Catholic Church

No	35
Date of Notice	4 June 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Hickey	Ellen Martha Dooley
	💍 1922/2923
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Gore
Length of Residence	16 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Gore
Folio	4759
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. Andrew Fenelon, Roman Catholic Church

4 July 1922

Maurice Martin Roche
Jessie Violet Pearce Mickle

Maurice Martin Roche
Jessie Violet Pearce Meikle
💍 1922/8880

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Keeper
Domestic Duties

35
20

Mandeville
Mataura

20 years
20 years

Roman Catholic Church, Gore

6948

Margaret Johnson, mother

4 July 1922

Rev. Patrick O'Donnell, Roman Catholic Church

No	36
Date of Notice	4 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice Martin Roche	Jessie Violet Pearce Mickle
BDM Match (96%)	Maurice Martin Roche	Jessie Violet Pearce Meikle
	💍 1922/8880
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Keeper	Domestic Duties
Age	35	20
Dwelling Place	Mandeville	Mataura
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Gore
Folio	6948
Consent	Margaret Johnson, mother
Date of Certificate	4 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick O'Donnell, Roman Catholic Church

10 July 1922

Sydney Herbert Briston
Ellen Sleeman

Sydney Herbert Bristow
Ellen Sleeman
💍 1922/8881

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Domestic Duties

23
25

Mataura
Mataura

29 years
25 years

Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Gore

6949

July 1922

Rev. H. Hamblett, Anglican Church

No	37
Date of Notice	10 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Herbert Briston	Ellen Sleeman
BDM Match (98%)	Sydney Herbert Bristow	Ellen Sleeman
	💍 1922/8881
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Domestic Duties
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Mataura	Mataura
Length of Residence	29 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Gore
Folio	6949
Consent
Date of Certificate	July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Hamblett, Anglican Church

18 July 1922

Harry Coulson Jayles
Nellie Stewart

Harry Coulson Tayles
Nellie Stewart
💍 1922/8119

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

38
27

Riversdale
Riversdale

20 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Riversdale

6950

19 July 1922

Rev. G. P. Mitchell, Presbyterian Church

No	38
Date of Notice	18 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Coulson Jayles	Nellie Stewart
BDM Match (98%)	Harry Coulson Tayles	Nellie Stewart
	💍 1922/8119
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	38	27
Dwelling Place	Riversdale	Riversdale
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Riversdale
Folio	6950
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Mitchell, Presbyterian Church

31 July 1922

William Howard Muir
Mary Catherine Devery

William Howard Muir
Mary Catherine Devery
💍 1922/8130

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

32
28

Riversdale
Riversdale

2 months
22 years

Mr. John Devery's House, East Gore

6951

31 July 1922

Rev. Patk. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic Church

No	39
Date of Notice	31 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Howard Muir	Mary Catherine Devery
	💍 1922/8130
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Riversdale	Riversdale
Length of Residence	2 months	22 years
Marriage Place	Mr. John Devery's House, East Gore
Folio	6951
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patk. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic Church

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).