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 3244

District of Gore Quarter ending 30 June 1922 Registrar Puggau

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 June 1922

Cecil Gordon Clearwater
Adele Gladys Pratt

Cecil Gordon Clearwater
Adele Gladys Pratt
💍 1922/2943

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman
Accountant

21
24

Gore
Gore

-
4 years

At Residence of Mrs Ellen Pratt, Rock Street, West Gore

4755

Mrs Ellen Pratt, mother of bride

12 June 1922

Rev. J. J. Parker

No	31
Date of Notice	12 June 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Gordon Clearwater	Adele Gladys Pratt
	💍 1922/2943
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Accountant
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Gore	Gore
Length of Residence	-	4 years
Marriage Place	At Residence of Mrs Ellen Pratt, Rock Street, West Gore
Folio	4755
Consent	Mrs Ellen Pratt, mother of bride
Date of Certificate	12 June 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Parker

14 June 1922

George Eric Paterson
Isabella Strachan Biggar

George Eric Paterson
Isabella Strachan Biggar
💍 1922/2944

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger
School Teacher

27
26

Gore
Gore

21 years
26 years

Presbyterian Church, East Gore

4756

14 June 1922

Rev. J. M. Gray

No	32
Date of Notice	14 June 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Eric Paterson	Isabella Strachan Biggar
	💍 1922/2944
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger	School Teacher
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Gore	Gore
Length of Residence	21 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, East Gore
Folio	4756
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Gray

16 June 1922

John Matthew Wilson Bell
Elizabeth Cullen

John Matthew Wilson Bell
Elizabeth Cullen
💍 1922/2921

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
30

Lindis Crossing
Gore

3 months
4 years

Presbyterian Church, Gore

4757

16 June 1922

Rev. J. M. Gray

No	33
Date of Notice	16 June 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Matthew Wilson Bell	Elizabeth Cullen
	💍 1922/2921
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Lindis Crossing	Gore
Length of Residence	3 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Gore
Folio	4757
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Gray

19 June 1922

Joseph Horace Widdicombe
Adele Elizabeth Scott

Joseph Horace McAuliffe
Adele Elizabeth Scott
💍 1922/2922

Bachelor
Spinster

Town Clerk
Domestic Duties

31
23

Mataura
Mataura

2 years
23 years

Presbyterian Church, Gore

4758

19 June 1922

Rev. James W. Master

No	34
Date of Notice	19 June 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Horace Widdicombe	Adele Elizabeth Scott
BDM Match (81%)	Joseph Horace McAuliffe	Adele Elizabeth Scott
	💍 1922/2922
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Town Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Mataura	Mataura
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Gore
Folio	4758
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 June 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. James W. Master

3 July 1922

Martin Hickey
Ellen Martha Dowley

Martin Hickey
Ellen Martha Dooley
💍 1922/2923

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

30
23

Waimate
Gore

16 years
17 years

Roman Catholic Church, Gore

4759

3 July 1922

Rev. Andrews P. O'Donnell

No	35
Date of Notice	3 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Hickey	Ellen Martha Dowley
BDM Match (97%)	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	17 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Gore
Folio	4759
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. Andrews P. O'Donnell

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).