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 3210

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 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

2 December 1924

Hector Harrison
Joyce Maysie Nimmo

Hector Morrison
Joyce Maysie Nimmo
💍 1924/7541

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

24
27

Oamaru
Papakaio

7 years
27 years

Residence of Thomas Nimmo, Papakaio

10089

2 December 1924

Rev. W. G. Hannah, Presbyterian

No	90
Date of Notice	2 December 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hector Harrison	Joyce Maysie Nimmo
BDM Match (93%)	Hector Morrison	Joyce Maysie Nimmo
	💍 1924/7541
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Papakaio
Length of Residence	7 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Thomas Nimmo, Papakaio
Folio	10089
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Hannah, Presbyterian

6 December 1924

Jack Locke
Mary Lyal Bews

Jack Cocks
Mary Lyal Bews
💍 1924/7542

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

28
30

Ngapara
Ngapara

3 days
3 months

Presbyterian Church, Ngapara

10090

6 December 1924

Rev. Alexander Sangster, Presbyterian

No	91
Date of Notice	6 December 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jack Locke	Mary Lyal Bews
BDM Match (90%)	Jack Cocks	Mary Lyal Bews
	💍 1924/7542
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Ngapara	Ngapara
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Ngapara
Folio	10090
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 December 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexander Sangster, Presbyterian

8 December 1924

Arthur Renwick Kilgour
Janet Gillans Nimmo

Arthur Renwick Kilgour
Janet Pillans Nimmo
💍 1924/7543

Bachelor
Spinster

Textile Designer
Domestic Duties

42
25

Oamaru
Ngapara

41 years
27 years

Ngapara Presbyterian Church

10091

8 December 1924

Rev. G. J. Stockwell, Methodist

No	92
Date of Notice	8 December 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Renwick Kilgour	Janet Gillans Nimmo
BDM Match (97%)	Arthur Renwick Kilgour	Janet Pillans Nimmo
	💍 1924/7543
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Textile Designer	Domestic Duties
Age	42	25
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Ngapara
Length of Residence	41 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Ngapara Presbyterian Church
Folio	10091
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. Stockwell, Methodist

10 December 1924

John Christie
Ruby Ede Marshall

John Christie
Ruby Ede Marshall
💍 1924/7544

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

31
27

Oamaru
Maheno

2 1/2 years
27 years

Presbyterian Manse, Maheno

10092

10 December 1924

Rev. G. W. Hunt, Presbyterian

No	93
Date of Notice	10 December 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Christie	Ruby Ede Marshall
	💍 1924/7544
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Maheno
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Maheno
Folio	10092
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Hunt, Presbyterian

11 December 1924

Albert Forrest
Elsie Harvey

Albert Forrest
Elsie Harvey
💍 1924/7545

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

34
29

Oamaru
Oamaru

4 years
29 years

Weston Presbyterian Church

10093

11 December 1924

Rev. A. Watson, Presbyterian

No	94
Date of Notice	11 December 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Forrest	Elsie Harvey
	💍 1924/7545
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	4 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Weston Presbyterian Church
Folio	10093
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Watson, 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).