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 3207

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 June 1923 Registrar H. W. Hart

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

28 May 1923

David McLean
Gwendoline Pincham

David McLean
Gwendoline Fincham
💍 1923/3549

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

40
27

Allday Bay
Ngapara

40 years
5 years

Presbyterian Church, Ngapara

4975

28 May 1923

Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

No	41
Date of Notice	28 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David McLean	Gwendoline Pincham
BDM Match (97%)	David McLean	Gwendoline Fincham
	💍 1923/3549
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	40	27
Dwelling Place	Allday Bay	Ngapara
Length of Residence	40 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Ngapara
Folio	4975
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

29 May 1923

James Max Smyth
Marguerita Fraser Martin

James Max Smyth
Marguerita Fraser Martin
💍 1923/3550

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Tailoress

25
23

Oamaru
Oamaru

25 years
23 years

Baptist Church, Severn Street, Oamaru

4976

29 May 1923

Rev. R. Robertson, Baptist

No	42
Date of Notice	29 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Max Smyth	Marguerita Fraser Martin
	💍 1923/3550
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Tailoress
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	25 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Severn Street, Oamaru
Folio	4976
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Robertson, Baptist

1 June 1923

William Henry Hawkins
Edith Coralie Madeline Ellen Wray

William Henry Hawkins
Edith Coralie Madeline Ellen Wray
💍 1923/9446

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker
Dressmaker

30
30

Port Chalmers
Oamaru

30 years
30 years

St Lukes Church, Oamaru

4977

1 June 1923

Rev. J. D. Russell, Church of England

No	43
Date of Notice	1 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Hawkins	Edith Coralie Madeline Ellen Wray
	💍 1923/9446
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker	Dressmaker
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Oamaru
Length of Residence	30 years	30 years
Marriage Place	St Lukes Church, Oamaru
Folio	4977
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Russell, Church of England

2 June 1923

Thomas Graham Harvey
Isabel Elizabeth Bain

Thomas Graham Harvey
Mabel Elizabeth Bain
💍 1923/9457

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

30
23

Oamaru
Oamaru

30 years
6 years

Columba Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

4978

2 June 1923

Rev. W. McLean, Presbyterian

No	44
Date of Notice	2 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Graham Harvey	Isabel Elizabeth Bain
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Graham Harvey	Mabel Elizabeth Bain
	💍 1923/9457
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	30 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Columba Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	4978
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. McLean, Presbyterian

22 June 1923

Samuel Blair
Agnes Margaret Orr

Samuel Blair
Agnes Margaret Orr
💍 1923/9464

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

29
27

Ngapara
Ngapara

29 years
27 years

Residence of Elizabeth Orr, Ngapara

4979

22 June 1923

Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

No	45
Date of Notice	22 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Blair	Agnes Margaret Orr
	💍 1923/9464
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Ngapara	Ngapara
Length of Residence	29 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Elizabeth Orr, Ngapara
Folio	4979
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 June 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Irvine, 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).