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 3216

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 1923 Registrar H. T. Kerr

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

23 October 1923

Newton Murray Read
Martha Myrtle Taylor

Newton Murray Mead
Martha Myrtle Taylor
💍 1923/7512

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
28

Alma
Alma

7 years
14 years

St. Lukes Church, Oamaru

9791

23 October 1923

Rev. Archdeacon J. D. Russell, Church of England

No	74
Date of Notice	23 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Newton Murray Read	Martha Myrtle Taylor
BDM Match (97%)	Newton Murray Mead	Martha Myrtle Taylor
	💍 1923/7512
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Alma	Alma
Length of Residence	7 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Church, Oamaru
Folio	9791
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon J. D. Russell, Church of England

26 October 1923

James Duggan
Ann Florence Ballowfield Smith

James Duggan
Ann Florence Fallowfield Smith
💍 1923/7513

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

30
28

Oamaru
Oamaru

10 months
9 years

Residence of Rev. D. Jamieson, Wansbeck Street, Oamaru

9792

Hannah Paterson, Mother

26 October 1923

Rev. David Jamieson, Church of England

No	75
Date of Notice	26 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Duggan	Ann Florence Ballowfield Smith
BDM Match (98%)	James Duggan	Ann Florence Fallowfield Smith
	💍 1923/7513
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	10 months	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. D. Jamieson, Wansbeck Street, Oamaru
Folio	9792
Consent	Hannah Paterson, Mother
Date of Certificate	26 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Jamieson, Church of England

2 November 1923

Donald McLean Copland
Daisy Mabel Henstridge

Donald McVean Copland
Daisy Mabel Henstridge
💍 1923/7514

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

35
32

Weston
Glenavy

35 years
35 years

St. Lukes Anglican Church, Oamaru

9793

2 November 1923

Rev. D. Rankin, Church of England

No	76
Date of Notice	2 November 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald McLean Copland	Daisy Mabel Henstridge
BDM Match (98%)	Donald McVean Copland	Daisy Mabel Henstridge
	💍 1923/7514
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	35	32
Dwelling Place	Weston	Glenavy
Length of Residence	35 years	35 years
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Anglican Church, Oamaru
Folio	9793
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Rankin, Church of England

3 November 1923

Eric William Thomson
Marion Paterson Heron

Eric William Thomson
Marion Paterson Heron
💍 1923/7515

Bachelor
Spinster

Commission Agent
Law Clerk

26
22

Oamaru
Oamaru

1 week
22 years

Columba Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

9794

3 November 1923

Rev. W. McLean, Presbyterian

No	77
Date of Notice	3 November 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric William Thomson	Marion Paterson Heron
	💍 1923/7515
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commission Agent	Law Clerk
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	1 week	22 years
Marriage Place	Columba Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	9794
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. McLean, Presbyterian

3 November 1923

Clarence Roy Paterson
Doris Kennedy

Clarence Roy Paterson
Doris Kennedy
💍 1923/7516

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
25

Windsor
Windsor

3 years
25 years

St. Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

9795

3 November 1923

Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

No	78
Date of Notice	3 November 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Roy Paterson	Doris Kennedy
	💍 1923/7516
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Windsor	Windsor
Length of Residence	3 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	9795
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 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).