Intentions to Marry, 1923 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840519, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1923 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.

1923e contains pages 3085-3502, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 3203

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 June 1923 Registrar H. W. H[illegible]

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 April 1923

Frederick Samuel Gray
Helen Binnie Denholm

Frederick Samuel Gray
Helen Binnie Denholm
💍 1923/3534

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Weaver

32
22

Oamaru
Oamaru

18 months
17 years

St Pauls Presbyterian Church Oamaru

4961

4 April 1923

Rev. S. D. Hundle, Presbyterian

No	26
Date of Notice	4 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Samuel Gray	Helen Binnie Denholm
	💍 1923/3534
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Weaver
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	18 months	17 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Presbyterian Church Oamaru
Folio	4961
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. D. Hundle, Presbyterian

5 April 1923

John Alexander Hills
Pearl Isabel Galloway

John Alexander Mills
Mearl Isabel Galloway
💍 1923/3535

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Typiste

19
24

Ardgowan
Oamaru

19 years
24 years

Residence of A. Galloway, Tweed Street, Oamaru

4962

Lily Hills, mother

5 April 1923

Rev. W. McLean, Presbyterian

No	27
Date of Notice	5 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander Hills	Pearl Isabel Galloway
BDM Match (95%)	John Alexander Mills	Mearl Isabel Galloway
	💍 1923/3535
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Typiste
Age	19	24
Dwelling Place	Ardgowan	Oamaru
Length of Residence	19 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of A. Galloway, Tweed Street, Oamaru
Folio	4962
Consent	Lily Hills, mother
Date of Certificate	5 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. McLean, Presbyterian

10 April 1923

Laban Charles Poole
Rose Olive Amies

Laban Charles Poole
Rose Olive Amies
💍 1923/3536

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

20
23

Herbert
Oamaru

20 years

Registrars Office Oamaru

4963

Charles Poole, Father

10 April 1923

W. Harte, Registrar of Marriages

No	28
Date of Notice	10 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Laban Charles Poole	Rose Olive Amies
	💍 1923/3536
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	20	23
Dwelling Place	Herbert	Oamaru
Length of Residence		20 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Oamaru
Folio	4963
Consent	Charles Poole, Father
Date of Certificate	10 April 1923
Officiating Minister	W. Harte, Registrar of Marriages

11 April 1923

Daniel McCulloch
Edna Clarice Bastings

Daniel McCulloch
Edna Clarice Bastings
💍 1923/3537

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

23
23

Ngapara
Shag Point

23 years

St Lukes Church Oamaru

4964

11 April 1923

Rev. J. D. Russell, Church of England

No	29
Date of Notice	11 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel McCulloch	Edna Clarice Bastings
	💍 1923/3537
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Ngapara	Shag Point
Length of Residence	23 years
Marriage Place	St Lukes Church Oamaru
Folio	4964
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Russell, Church of England

14 April 1923

John Michael Docherty
Catherine Ann McLeod

John Michael Docherty
Catherine Ann McLeod
💍 1923/3538

Bachelor
Spinster

Stonemason
Domestic Duties

30
24

Oamaru
Totara

30 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Basilica Oamaru

4965

14 April 1923

Rev. R. Graham, Roman Catholic

No	30
Date of Notice	14 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Michael Docherty	Catherine Ann McLeod
	💍 1923/3538
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stonemason	Domestic Duties
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Totara
Length of Residence	30 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica Oamaru
Folio	4965
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Graham, Roman Catholic

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).