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 3210

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar H. A. B. [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 July 1923

William Thomas Kimm
Maude Anne Elizabeth Campbell

William Thomas Kimm
Maude Anne Elizabeth Campbell
💍 1923/5663

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

26 years
24 years

Oamaru
Oamaru

14 years
9 years

Columba Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

7294

19 July 1923

Rev. Walter McLean, Presbyterian

No	52
Date of Notice	19 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Kimm	Maude Anne Elizabeth Campbell
	💍 1923/5663
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	26 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	14 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Columba Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	7294
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter McLean, Presbyterian

20 July 1923

Leslie Gordon Taylor
Ella McIvor

Leslie Gordon Taylor
Ella McIvor
💍 1923/5664

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

22 years
21 years

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 years
8 years

St. Luke's Anglican Church, Oamaru

7295

20 July 1923

Rev. D. Jamieson, Church of England

No	53
Date of Notice	20 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Gordon Taylor	Ella McIvor
	💍 1923/5664
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	22 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Anglican Church, Oamaru
Folio	7295
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Jamieson, Church of England

6 August 1923

James Gilchrist
Martha Jane Petrie

James Gilchrist
Martha Jane Petrie
💍 1923/5665

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

23 years
22 years

Oamaru
Oamaru

23 years
22 years

Registrar's Office, Oamaru

6 August 1923

Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru

No	54
Date of Notice	6 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gilchrist	Martha Jane Petrie
	💍 1923/5665
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	23 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	23 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Oamaru
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru

6 August 1923

James Gilchrist
Martha Jane Petrie

James Gilchrist
Martha Jane Petrie
💍 1923/5665

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

23 years
22 years

Oamaru
Oamaru

23 years
22 years

Residence of Alexander Gilchrist, Oamaru

7296

6 August 1923

Rev. Walter McLean, Presbyterian

No	55
Date of Notice	6 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gilchrist	Martha Jane Petrie
	💍 1923/5665
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	23 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	23 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Alexander Gilchrist, Oamaru
Folio	7296
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter McLean, Presbyterian

8 August 1923

Manley George Odell
Eileen Ross

Stanley George Odell
Eileen Ross
💍 1923/5666

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

24 years
25 years

Airedale
Enfield

10 years
25 years

Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru

7297

8 August 1923

Rev. A. Fenelon, Roman Catholic

No	56
Date of Notice	8 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Manley George Odell	Eileen Ross
BDM Match (95%)	Stanley George Odell	Eileen Ross
	💍 1923/5666
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	24 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Airedale	Enfield
Length of Residence	10 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru
Folio	7297
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Fenelon, 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).