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 3190

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 March 1924 Registrar Chas. 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

17 January 1924

Robert Keen
Agnes Baldwell

Robert Keen
Agnes Caldwell
💍 1924/9121

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

21
21

Waimate
Hampden

21 years
21 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru

2266

17 January 1924

Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru

No	6
Date of Notice	17 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Keen	Agnes Baldwell
BDM Match (96%)	Robert Keen	Agnes Caldwell
	💍 1924/9121
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Hampden
Length of Residence	21 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
Folio	2266
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1924
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru

22 January 1924

Arthur Brown
Jessie Towers

Arthur Brown
Jessie Tomers
💍 1924/9122

Arthur Brown
Gladys Priscilla Newell
💍 1924/6350

Bachelor
Widow

Shearer
House Duties

32
33

Oamaru
Oamaru

4 days
6 days

Methodist Parsonage, Oamaru

2267

22 January 1924

Rev. G. Stockwell, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	22 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Brown	Jessie Towers
BDM Match (96%)	Arthur Brown	Jessie Tomers
	💍 1924/9122
BDM Match (63%)	Arthur Brown	Gladys Priscilla Newell
	💍 1924/6350
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Shearer	House Duties
Age	32	33
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	4 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, Oamaru
Folio	2267
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Stockwell, Presbyterian

28 January 1924

Thomas William Direen
Catherine May Mansell

Thomas William Direen
Catherine May Mansfield
💍 1924/9123

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
27

Windsor
Windsor

5 years
27 years

Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru

2268

28 January 1924

Rev. P. Fenelon, Roman Catholic

No	8
Date of Notice	28 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Direen	Catherine May Mansell
BDM Match (94%)	Thomas William Direen	Catherine May Mansfield
	💍 1924/9123
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Windsor	Windsor
Length of Residence	5 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru
Folio	2268
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Fenelon, Roman Catholic

29 January 1924

Frederick Roberts Neill
Margaret Kennedy

Fredrick Roberts Neill
Margaret Kennedy
💍 1924/9125

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

23
25

Enfield
Enfield

1 week
10 days

Residence of W. Bunton, Enfield

2269

29 January 1924

Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	29 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Roberts Neill	Margaret Kennedy
BDM Match (98%)	Fredrick Roberts Neill	Margaret Kennedy
	💍 1924/9125
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Enfield	Enfield
Length of Residence	1 week	10 days
Marriage Place	Residence of W. Bunton, Enfield
Folio	2269
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

8 February 1924

Walter Watson
Jessie Simpson Bruce

Walter Watson
Jessie Simpson Bruce
💍 1924/9126

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic Duties

25
20

Oamaru
Totara

25 years
20 years

Columba Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

2270

George Anderson Bruce, father

8 February 1924

Rev. Walter McLear, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	8 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Watson	Jessie Simpson Bruce
	💍 1924/9126
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Totara
Length of Residence	25 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Columba Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	2270
Consent	George Anderson Bruce, father
Date of Certificate	8 February 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter McLear, 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).