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 3343

District of Gore Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar P. J. G. [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

19 February 1923

Frederick Henry Clappe
Margaret Muir

Frederick Henry Clapp
Margaret Moir
💍 1923/2744

Frederick Henry Miller
Margaret McRobie
💍 1923/5723

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter N.Z.R.
Domestic Duties

23
20

Ashburton
Ashburton

5 days
5 days

Presbyterian Church, Gore

2465

Margaret Muir, Father

19 February 1923

John W. Gray, Presbyterian

No	11
Date of Notice	19 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Henry Clappe	Margaret Muir
BDM Match (94%)	Frederick Henry Clapp	Margaret Moir
	💍 1923/2744
BDM Match (71%)	Frederick Henry Miller	Margaret McRobie
	💍 1923/5723
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter N.Z.R.	Domestic Duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Gore
Folio	2465
Consent	Margaret Muir, Father
Date of Certificate	19 February 1923
Officiating Minister	John W. Gray, Presbyterian

21 February 1923

Ipa Eric Grant
Nellie W. Littingham

Ira Eric Grant
Nellie Whittingham
💍 1923/2745

Bachelor
Spinster

Jockey
Domestic Duties

22
19

Gore
Gore

22 years
19 years

Church of England, Gore

2466

George W. Littingham, Father

21 February 1923

Hoani Parata, Anglican

No	12
Date of Notice	21 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ipa Eric Grant	Nellie W. Littingham
BDM Match (89%)	Ira Eric Grant	Nellie Whittingham
	💍 1923/2745
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jockey	Domestic Duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Gore	Gore
Length of Residence	22 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Gore
Folio	2466
Consent	George W. Littingham, Father
Date of Certificate	21 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Hoani Parata, Anglican

23 February 1923

Norman Wright
Mabel Webb

Norman Wright
Mabel Webb
💍 1923/2746

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist
Domestic Duties

23
23

Mataura
Mataura

5 years
4 days

Presbyterian Church, Gore

2467

23 February 1923

James McMaster, Presbyterian

No	13
Date of Notice	23 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Wright	Mabel Webb
	💍 1923/2746
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist	Domestic Duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Mataura	Mataura
Length of Residence	5 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Gore
Folio	2467
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1923
Officiating Minister	James McMaster, Presbyterian

3 March 1923

Limaru Longrove
Rose Ann Pullan

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

36
25

Kaniera
Pukerau

11 years
5 years

Gore Presbyterian Church

2468

3 March 1923

D. McColl, Presbyterian

No	14
Date of Notice	3 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Limaru Longrove	Rose Ann Pullan
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	36	25
Dwelling Place	Kaniera	Pukerau
Length of Residence	11 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Gore Presbyterian Church
Folio	2468
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1923
Officiating Minister	D. McColl, Presbyterian

13 March 1923

Oliver Holmes Dillon
Rosina Radford

Oliver Holmes Dillon
Rosina Radford
💍 1923/2748

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Agent
Shorthand Typist

26
22

Gore
Gore

2 years
6 years

Church of England, Gore

2469

13 March 1923

Hoani Parata, Anglican

No	15
Date of Notice	13 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oliver Holmes Dillon	Rosina Radford
	💍 1923/2748
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Agent	Shorthand Typist
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Gore	Gore
Length of Residence	2 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Gore
Folio	2469
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Hoani Parata, Anglican

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).