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 3204

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 June 1923 Registrar H. A. [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

24 April 1923

William Henry Simpson
Annie Dear [illegible]

William Henry Simpson
Annie Dear McCone
💍 1923/3539

William Henry Simpson
Edna Doreen Yeoman
💍 1923/8427

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

22
23

Oamaru
Tokarahi

3 days
3 days

Columba Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

4966

24 April 1923

Rev. W. McFean, Presbyterian

No	31
Date of Notice	24 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Simpson	Annie Dear [illegible]
BDM Match (77%)	William Henry Simpson	Annie Dear McCone
	💍 1923/3539
BDM Match (61%)	William Henry Simpson	Edna Doreen Yeoman
	💍 1923/8427
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Tokarahi
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Columba Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	4966
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. McFean, Presbyterian

24 April 1923

Adam Fleming Byars
Elizabeth Wilkinson

Adam Fleming Byars
Elizabeth Wilkinson
💍 1923/3540

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Domestic

21
24

Alma
Alma

7 days
7 months

Presbyterian Manse, Wansbeck Street, Oamaru

4967

24 April 1923

Rev. W. McFean, Presbyterian

No	32
Date of Notice	24 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adam Fleming Byars	Elizabeth Wilkinson
	💍 1923/3540
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Domestic
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Alma	Alma
Length of Residence	7 days	7 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Wansbeck Street, Oamaru
Folio	4967
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. McFean, Presbyterian

24 April 1923

William Barrie Fraser
Isobel Lindsay McInnes

William Barrie Fraser
Isobel Lindsay McInnes
💍 1923/3541

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal & Firewood Merchant
Domestic

28
34

Oamaru
Kartigi

3 days
13 years

Columba Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

4968

24 April 1923

Rev. W. G. Hannah, Presbyterian

No	33
Date of Notice	24 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Barrie Fraser	Isobel Lindsay McInnes
	💍 1923/3541
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal & Firewood Merchant	Domestic
Age	28	34
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Kartigi
Length of Residence	3 days	13 years
Marriage Place	Columba Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	4968
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Hannah, Presbyterian

27 April 1923

Edgar Henry Lopdell
Ella Mary Maud Wallis

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

23
26

Kakanui
Kakanui

11 months
8 months

St. Lukes Anglican Church, Oamaru

27 April 1923

Rev. J. R. Russell, Church of England

No	34
Date of Notice	27 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Henry Lopdell	Ella Mary Maud Wallis
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Kakanui	Kakanui
Length of Residence	11 months	8 months
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Anglican Church, Oamaru
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Russell, Church of England

4 May 1923

John Greaney
Jennie Gladys Wisnesky

John Greaney
Jeannie Gladys Wisnesky
💍 1923/3542

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

34
25

Oamaru
Karaweka

2 years
3 months

Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru

4969

4 May 1923

Rev. R. Graham, Roman Catholic

No	35
Date of Notice	4 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Greaney	Jennie Gladys Wisnesky
BDM Match (98%)	John Greaney	Jeannie Gladys Wisnesky
	💍 1923/3542
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Karaweka
Length of Residence	2 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	4969
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Graham, Roman Catholic

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).