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 3191

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

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

9 February 1924

Ronald Alexander Hall
Mabel Esther Newton

Ronald Alexander Hall
Mabel Esther Hewton
💍 1924/9127

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Teacher

24
27

Clinton
Ngapara

3 months
3 months

Residence of W. G. Newton

2271

9 February 1924

Rev. G. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

No	11
Date of Notice	9 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Alexander Hall	Mabel Esther Newton
BDM Match (97%)	Ronald Alexander Hall	Mabel Esther Hewton
	💍 1924/9127
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Teacher
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Clinton	Ngapara
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of W. G. Newton
Folio	2271
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

3 March 1924

John Charles Dromgool
Elizabeth Margaret O'Donnell

John Charles Dromgool
Elizabeth Margaret O'Donnell
💍 1924/9128

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30
25

Oamaru
Alima

3 1/2 years
25 years

Roman Catholic Basilica

2272

3 March 1924

Rev. D. O'Connell, Roman Catholic

No	12
Date of Notice	3 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charles Dromgool	Elizabeth Margaret O'Donnell
	💍 1924/9128
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Alima
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica
Folio	2272
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. O'Connell, Roman Catholic

6 March 1924

Robert James Laurie
Olive Mini Hoskin

Robert James Lawrie
Olive Mimi Hoskin
💍 1924/9129

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

24
24

Oamaru
Ngapara

6 months
12 months

St. Lukes Anglican Church, Oamaru

2273

6 March 1924

Rev. A. Moffatt, Anglican

No	13
Date of Notice	6 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert James Laurie	Olive Mini Hoskin
BDM Match (94%)	Robert James Lawrie	Olive Mimi Hoskin
	💍 1924/9129
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Ngapara
Length of Residence	6 months	12 months
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Anglican Church, Oamaru
Folio	2273
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Moffatt, Anglican

13 March 1924

Eric Noel Alexander Paterson
Ruth Emma Crawshaw

Eric Noel Alexander Paterson
Ruth Emma Crawshaw
💍 1924/9130

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30
28

Oamaru
Waimate

3 days
3 days

Methodist Parsonage, Eden Street, Oamaru

2274

12 March 1924

Rev. G. Stockwell, Methodist

No	14
Date of Notice	13 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Noel Alexander Paterson	Ruth Emma Crawshaw
	💍 1924/9130
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Waimate
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, Eden Street, Oamaru
Folio	2274
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Stockwell, Methodist

14 March 1924

Lachlan Cameron Munro
Flora Christina McGregor

Lachlan Cameron Munro
Flora Christina McGregor
💍 1924/9138

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep farmer
Domestic Duties

26
25

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
3 days

St. Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

2275

17 March 1924

Rev. Ivo Edgar Bertram, Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	14 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lachlan Cameron Munro	Flora Christina McGregor
	💍 1924/9138
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	2275
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. Ivo Edgar Bertram, 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).