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 3202

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 September 1924

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

25 July 1924

Robert Cecil Norman Reed
Eyma Ruth Evangeline Brook

Robert Cecil Norman Reed
Ezma Ruth Evangelene Cronk
💍 1924/5649

Bachelor
Spinster

Horse Trainer
School Teacher

25 years
20 years

Wingatui
Oamaru

20 years
20 years

Anglican Church, Awamoko

7550

Alexander Brook, father

25 July 1924

Rev. D. Jamieson, Church of England

No	52
Date of Notice	25 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Cecil Norman Reed	Eyma Ruth Evangeline Brook
BDM Match (92%)	Robert Cecil Norman Reed	Ezma Ruth Evangelene Cronk
	💍 1924/5649
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Horse Trainer	School Teacher
Age	25 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Wingatui	Oamaru
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Awamoko
Folio	7550
Consent	Alexander Brook, father
Date of Certificate	25 July 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Jamieson, Church of England

25 July 1924

Robert Alexander Winsley
Theresa Hannah Leen

Robert Alexander Winsley
Theresa Hannah Leen
💍 1924/5650

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

27 years
24 years

Oamaru
Kakanui

2 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru

7551

25 July 1924

Rev. C. E. Ardagh, Roman Catholic

No	53
Date of Notice	25 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Alexander Winsley	Theresa Hannah Leen
	💍 1924/5650
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	27 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Kakanui
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru
Folio	7551
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Ardagh, Roman Catholic

4 August 1924

William Hugh Sanders
Alice Maud Mary Carrodus

William Hugh Sanders
Alice Maud Mary Carrodus
💍 1924/5683

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic Duties

28 years
28 years

Dunedin
Oamaru

28 years
28 years

St. Luke's Anglican Church, Oamaru

7552

4 August 1924

Rev. J. D. Russell, Church of England

No	54
Date of Notice	4 August 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hugh Sanders	Alice Maud Mary Carrodus
	💍 1924/5683
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic Duties
Age	28 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Oamaru
Length of Residence	28 years	28 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Anglican Church, Oamaru
Folio	7552
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Russell, Church of England

5 August 1924

James Robert Gray
Margaret Vaile

James Robert Gray
Margaret Vaile
💍 1924/5694

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Cook

22 years
19 years

Enfield
Oamaru

22 years
19 years

Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru

7553

James Vaile, father

5 August 1924

Rev. A. Fenelon, Roman Catholic

No	55
Date of Notice	5 August 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Robert Gray	Margaret Vaile
	💍 1924/5694
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Cook
Age	22 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Enfield	Oamaru
Length of Residence	22 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru
Folio	7553
Consent	James Vaile, father
Date of Certificate	5 August 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Fenelon, Roman Catholic

8 August 1924

Adam Marshall Cairns
Marie Chillinda Stichman

Adam Marshall Cairns
Marie Millinda Stiehman
💍 1924/5701

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Housekeeper

23 years
24 years

Oamaru
Oamaru

5 1/2 years
20 years

Residence of Mr. N. Stichman, South Oamaru

7554

9 August 1924

Rev. G. J. Stockwell, Methodist

No	56
Date of Notice	8 August 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adam Marshall Cairns	Marie Chillinda Stichman
BDM Match (94%)	Adam Marshall Cairns	Marie Millinda Stiehman
	💍 1924/5701
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Housekeeper
Age	23 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	5 1/2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. N. Stichman, South Oamaru
Folio	7554
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. 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).