Intentions to Marry, 1924 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840527, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1924 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.

1924h contains pages 3075-3498, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 3189

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 March 1924 Registrar Chas. J. James

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

5 January 1924

Harold Torrance Hall
Phyllis Jessie Kent

Harold Torrance Hall
Phyllis Jessie Kent
💍 1924/9116

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolteacher
Typiste

28
22

Oamaru
Oamaru

14 years
16 years

Anglican Church, Newborough

2261

5 January 1924

Rev. D. Jamieson, Anglican

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Torrance Hall	Phyllis Jessie Kent
	💍 1924/9116
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolteacher	Typiste
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	14 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Newborough
Folio	2261
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Jamieson, Anglican

5 January 1924

William James Foster
Ellen Duffy

William James Foster
Ellen Duffy
💍 1924/9117

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

27
21

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
3 days

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru

2262

5 January 1924

Registrar of Marriages

No	2
Date of Notice	5 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Foster	Ellen Duffy
	💍 1924/9117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
Folio	2262
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1924
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

5 January 1924

Herwyn Ernest Arnold Welsh
Dorothea Kate Stockman

Mervyn Ernest Arnold Welsh
Dorothea Kate Stichman
💍 1924/9118

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Duties

24
18

Shag Point
Oamaru

18 years
18 years

Methodist Church, South Oamaru

2263

Herman Stockman, father

5 January 1924

Rev. G. F. Stockwell, Methodist

No	3
Date of Notice	5 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herwyn Ernest Arnold Welsh	Dorothea Kate Stockman
BDM Match (92%)	Mervyn Ernest Arnold Welsh	Dorothea Kate Stichman
	💍 1924/9118
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Duties
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Shag Point	Oamaru
Length of Residence	18 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, South Oamaru
Folio	2263
Consent	Herman Stockman, father
Date of Certificate	5 January 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. F. Stockwell, Methodist

7 January 1924

Raynor Balfour Gibb
May Irene Moore

Raymond Balfour Gibb
May Irene Moore
💍 1924/9119

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor mechanic
Domestic duties

18
18

Oamaru
Oamaru

18 years
18 years

Residence of the John Moore, Thames Street, Oamaru

2264

Maria Spence Gibb, mother; John Moore, guardian

7 January 1924

Rev. Wm. Gray Dixon, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	7 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raynor Balfour Gibb	May Irene Moore
BDM Match (93%)	Raymond Balfour Gibb	May Irene Moore
	💍 1924/9119
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor mechanic	Domestic duties
Age	18	18
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	18 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of the John Moore, Thames Street, Oamaru
Folio	2264
Consent	Maria Spence Gibb, mother; John Moore, guardian
Date of Certificate	7 January 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Gray Dixon, Presbyterian

10 January 1924

Edwin Horace John Dent
Caroline Mary Carson

Edwin Horace John Bent
Caroline Mary Carson
💍 1924/9120

Bachelor
Spinster

Canvasser
Domestic Duties

19
19

Oamaru
Oamaru

19 years
19 years

Residence of Alexander Hugh Carson, Eden Street, Oamaru

2265

Emma Ada Dent, mother; Alexander Hugh Carson, father

10 January 1924

Rev. G. F. Stockwell, Methodist

No	5
Date of Notice	10 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Horace John Dent	Caroline Mary Carson
BDM Match (98%)	Edwin Horace John Bent	Caroline Mary Carson
	💍 1924/9120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Canvasser	Domestic Duties
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	19 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Alexander Hugh Carson, Eden Street, Oamaru
Folio	2265
Consent	Emma Ada Dent, mother; Alexander Hugh Carson, father
Date of Certificate	10 January 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. F. Stockwell, Methodist

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).