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 3102

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 June 1922 Registrar Chis. T. James

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

24 April 1922

Alexander Michael John O'Lellan
Winifred Madeline Gamble

Alexander Michael John McLellan
Winifred Madeline Gamble
💍 1922/5059

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
Tailoress

26
26

Hillgrove
Oamaru

21 years
21 years

Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru

4703

24 April 1922

Rev. Daniel O'Connell, Roman Catholic

No	25
Date of Notice	24 April 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Michael John O'Lellan	Winifred Madeline Gamble
BDM Match (97%)	Alexander Michael John McLellan	Winifred Madeline Gamble
	💍 1922/5059
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Tailoress
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Hillgrove	Oamaru
Length of Residence	21 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru
Folio	4703
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. Daniel O'Connell, Roman Catholic

1 May 1922

James Alfred Wilson
Isabel Mitchell

James Alfred Wilson
Mabel Mitchell
💍 1922/5060

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Tailoress

25
22

Oamaru
Oamaru

2 years
22 years

Residence of J.A. Wilson, Usk Street, Oamaru

4704

1 May 1922

Rev. Samuel J. Hunter, Presbyterian

No	26
Date of Notice	1 May 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alfred Wilson	Isabel Mitchell
BDM Match (93%)	James Alfred Wilson	Mabel Mitchell
	💍 1922/5060
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Tailoress
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	2 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J.A. Wilson, Usk Street, Oamaru
Folio	4704
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 May 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel J. Hunter, Presbyterian

10 May 1922

Richard Lambeth
Eileen Constance Holt

Richard Lambert
Eileen Constance Holt
💍 1922/5061

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

36
22

Oamaru
Oamaru

36 years
9 years

Church of Christ, Eden Street, Oamaru

4705

10 May 1922

Rev. G. Verco, Church of Christ

No	27
Date of Notice	10 May 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Lambeth	Eileen Constance Holt
BDM Match (93%)	Richard Lambert	Eileen Constance Holt
	💍 1922/5061
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	36	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	36 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Eden Street, Oamaru
Folio	4705
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 May 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Verco, Church of Christ

6 June 1922

Patrick Vincent Corcoran
Selina Lily Shanley

Patrick Vincent Corcoran
Selina Lily Manley
💍 1922/5062

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

30
22

Oamaru
Oamaru

30 years
22 years

Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru

4706

6 June 1922

Rev. R. Graham, Roman Catholic

No	28
Date of Notice	6 June 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Vincent Corcoran	Selina Lily Shanley
BDM Match (95%)	Patrick Vincent Corcoran	Selina Lily Manley
	💍 1922/5062
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	30 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	4706
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Graham, Roman Catholic

8 June 1922

Percy Gladstone Hughes
Grace Leitch Johnston

Percy Gladstone Hughes
Grace Leitch Johnston
💍 1922/5063

Widower
Spinster

Minister
School Teacher

42
26

Timaru
Oamaru

11/3/21
3 days

Columba Church, Wansbeck Street, Oamaru

4707

8 June 1922

Rev. George Budd, Presbyterian

No	29
Date of Notice	8 June 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Gladstone Hughes	Grace Leitch Johnston
	💍 1922/5063
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Minister	School Teacher
Age	42	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	11/3/21	3 days
Marriage Place	Columba Church, Wansbeck Street, Oamaru
Folio	4707
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Budd, 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).